Common Bonds
by CptScarlett
Summary: When Alexandra Stanton meets Dave Tiler, the timing is perfect for her business. But when Alex and Dave find out they have more in common than either expected, will their business partnership bloom into something more?
1. Chapter 1: A New Venture

Chapter 1: A New Venture

Alex looked up into the bright blue sky, just a few clouds whisps through the air. "Well, Anna, you couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for a housewarming party!" She looked over at her friend with a warm smile and

"I know, it did turn out delightfully, didn't it? I hope we have enough food." Anna looked over the dishes on the table with a worried expression on her face.

"Anna! You have enough food for an army. Now, what else can I help with?" Alex pulled her long brown hair back into a pony tail with the hair band on her wrist as she spoke.

"Just the drinks. I think everyone is here." Anna looked around the yard and saw several other friends and coworkers chatting with each other, some standing, some lounging in chairs. After a few seconds of scanning she found Robin in a corner chatting with Dave, who had managed to rangle Tanya into babysitting the kids so he could enjoy a social gathering - even if Anna did have to goad him into coming. She walked back in with Anna and they brought trays out with drinks for all. After Robin fumbled over a brief few words welcoming everyone to their new home, everyone found their way around the table to fix their plates and grab drinks. Anna and Alex found themselves seated together at a corner of the yard. "So, Alex, how is business?"

"It's brilliant, really! I've almost reached the point where I can be self-sufficient with my business and not need to work at the shop to survive. I'm working on a new website and other promo for a local B&B right now. I'm trying to find a photographer to partner with for some pictures. I just can't seem to land someone reliable. They either don't know what they are doing with a camera, or won't show up when I need them. It's one of the last real holes I need to fill to make this thing successful."

"A photographer!" Anna almost spit out her food, "Really? I might be able to help you there!" She turned and found Dave in the crowd. He looked to be awkwardly chatting with a few of Robin's coworkers. "Dave, come here a moment!"

Dave turned when he heard Anna shouting for him over all the chatter of the party and the background music. He walked up to Anna and another woman who appeared to be close in age to Dave, if he had to guess. "Anna, this is a wonderful get together you've managed tonight."

"Thanks! Dave, can I introduce you to my friend Alex Stanton. She has her own business doing design & publicity work for small businesses. She's in need of a photographer to help her out on a current project. You think you might be able to help her out?" Anna smiled as she looked between the two. Why hadn't she thought to introduce them sooner?

"Well, we might be able to work something out," he said towards Anna, then held his hand out to Alex. "Dave Tiler, pleasure to meet you Mrs. Stanton. What kind of project are you working on?"

"Please, call me Alex." She shook the hand of the man in front of her, not missing his handsome appearance. "I'm working on website, brochure and some other promotional material for a local Bed and Breakfast. I need some brilliant photos and cannot for the life of me find a photographer that knows how to show up, much less what a shutter is. Do you know someone?"

"Well, Alex, I think I might just know someone," Dave grinned at her.

"Ah, I see," she paused and shook her head, "it's you isn't it?" Alex smirked. Anna could have divulged a bit more information before dropping her into this conversation. Speaking of Anna, where had she gotten of too? She seemed to have sneakily and conveniently wandered off and was now off chatting with another group of people.

"Yes, I have my own photography business. I do a wide range of photography, though mainly it involves portraits and the like, I certainly have experience in styles that might suit your needs."

"Oh, that would be wonderful!"

Dave enjoyed seeing her smile as she responded. "Alex, if you don't mind me asking, where are you from? Certainly not 'round these parts."

Alex chuckled. "No, no," she shook her head, "I'm from the US. I moved here about just over a year ago. I've been working at Brew, the tea & coffee shop just down the street, till my business is profitable."

"Ah," Dave said, "I thought I detected an American accent. A bit late, I suppose, if you've been here a year, but let me welcome you to Scotland. How do you know Anna?"

"We actually met at the shop and hit it off. You?"

"Oh, um…" Dave seemed to flounder a bit at how to explain his relationship to Anna and it peaked Alex's interest. "…We're family."

"Oh, I see." Alex wasn't really sure she understood. How were they family? Brother? Cousin? Why didn't he clarify? She took a breath and decided not to be nosy. If Dave was a good enough photographer for Anna to recommend him, she didn't want to run him off before she had a chance to see. "Well, I hate to be pushy, but I'm in a bit of a rush to get this project done. How soon do you think you could do the work?"

Dave was relieved she didn't push for more details. He was just hoping to make it through the evening without explaining anything about the past two years of his life to anyone, and he didn't want to either scare Alex off, or have her pitying him. "Well, I don't have anything scheduled for tomorrow, how about it?"

"Oh that's brilliant! Um, can I get your mobile number? I'll just text you the address. How does 10am sound?" She pulled out her phone and held it up with a questioning look on her face?

"Sure, no problem," he took her phone and put his contact number into the new contact she had opened on the screen. "Send it over to me and I'll meet you there at ten." Dave was interrupted as Robin stepped into the conversation.

"Oh, hello Alex! Anna says you and Dave might be doing some work together, that's wonderful!"

"Yes, it looks like it. I'm so glad I was able to come tonight, might have been my saving grace!'

As the evening went on, Dave and Alex each glanced at each other several times, neither catching the other in the act. At some point later into the evening, Dave noticed that Alex had slipped out without getting a chance to say goodbye. He was the last to leave that evening and was just saying his goodbyes to Anna and Robin when his phone beeped a notification.

 _"Nice meeting you tonight, Dave. B &B is at 132 Wickson Ave. See you at 10am."_

He glanced at the text before finishing his goodbyes and walking out with his helmet, sending a quick reply, _"Pleasure was all mine. Look forward to tomorrow and to working with you. See you at 10."_ He slipped his helmet on and got onto his bike, starting it up and heading off towards home.


	2. Chapter 2: It's Business, Not Personal

Common Bonds (Chapter 2)

Alex slowly woke up to hear a faint beeping close by her ear. It took her a moment to realize it was the alarm on her phone. How many had she slept through this time? She groaned and grabbed the phone off the side table and silenced the alarm before pulling up the clock app to see that she had only slept through one alarm and this was her second. Since she was up, she turned off the other 2 alarms and huffed to herself. Some habits never died, and sleeping late was one of hers. Even when John and the kids were still alive… she stopped herself and sighed… yes, even then she liked sleeping in.

She shook herself out of the thought pattern emerging and stretched her body across the bed, enjoying the feeling of her muscles and bones pulling and popping before curling back up onto her side. She lay there a moment before rolling onto her back and smiling. Today was going to be a good day. Here she was, living a new life, in a new country, with her own business, and things were looking up there. If things went well with Dave today she was hoping it would be the beginning of a fruitful business relationship. A smile crept to her lips as she thought about the man she had met the day before, then her eyebrow perked up as she analyzed her own thoughts. If she was honest with herself, Dave might be the first man she had even let herself be phased by in almost two and a half years, and she wondered why in the short time they had met and spent together at Anna's party he could already be catching her interest. Determined to let the day go where it would and not try and analyze every possible outcome, she hopped up out of bed and went about preparing for a shower.

After showering and getting dressed in a pair of jeans and purple sweater she went into what was her office, the second bedroom of her flat, and began preparing the paperwork she would need for Dave. She was grateful that Anna had introduced them, but was determined not to let friendship get in the way of what was proper business etiquette. She drew up a contract based on previous ones she had used, and as she printed it, she realized that they hadn't discussed compensation at all. With a slight frown and a hum, she grabbed her phone.

 _Hi Dave, just prepping for our arranged meeting later today. We didn't discuss ££- would you like to before we meet? You may decide it isn't worth your time?_

She sent the text and frowned again as she tapped her fingers on the side of her phone, hoping that wouldn't be the case… She jumped slightly as the screen switched to an incoming call and the ringer immediately began. It was Dave.

She took a deep breath, "Hello, Dave?"

"Hi, Alex! Sorry, it was easier to call with the phone on my shoulder than text, my hands are a bit full right now." What Alex couldn't see was Dave was in the middle of making sandwiches for school lunches.

"Oh, no problem. So, should we discuss compensation before we meet later?" Alex grabbed the contract and other paperwork and put it into a folder with some brochure and website mock-ups she had been working on.

"No, no… I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm sure what you have in mind is perfectly fine. I'll see you at 10, right?"

"Okay, well if you're sure about that, then yes, I'll see you then. Looking forward to it." She perked her eyebrow up, accepting his answer and smiling that things were moving forward.

"Yup, same here – see you then. Bye."

"Okay, bye," Alex said and hung up the phone. At the same time, Dave let the phone slip from his shoulder and caught it with his hand to hit the END button before setting the phone down to finish prepping lunches.

Alex double checked her files to be sure she had everything she needed, grabbed the keys to the B&B that the owner had left for her while they were out of town and grabbed her coat before heading out the door.

—

Dave finished packing lunches into assigned bags and yelled out, "Alright, come on kids, time to go to school, let's get moving! Anna's going to be here in 5 minutes, she's dropping you off today!"

He grabbed his backpack and made sure he had his camera, extra batteries, and other needed items in it. He wanted to go by the office to do a little work on other projects before meeting with Alex. He also wanted to do a bit of research on the Bed & Breakfast they would be doing the work for so he could be prepared for what the location and building were like before arriving.

A few minutes later the doorbell rang and he ran to open the door. "Hello, Anna! The kids are almost ready. Thanks again for taking them to school this morning."

"Hello! No problem, happy to help. So, you're meeting up with Alex today?"

"Yes, we're meeting at 10:00 at the B&B she needs photos of," He said as she went back into the kitchen quickly to grab the kids' lunches and bring them around to their book bags that were sitting by the front door.

"That's lovely! So glad that worked out," she said with a bit of a mischievous smile on her face.

Dave stopped in his tracks, "Anna," he drawled out her name longer than needed as if to warn her off from wherever her train of thought was going. He knew his (former) sister-in-law, and about six months after Sarah had up and left, she had started trying to draw his attention to various women.

"No, no, Dave. It's not exactly like that. I promise I actually hadn't even thought of introducing you two, although I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of it until she mentioned she needed a photographer. But Dave, just hear me out," She waited a moment to see she had his attention. "Get to know her, you two have a lot in common, I think you'll find…"

Dave sighed and stood up straight from where he had been bent over at the kids' backpacks, interrupting her. "You mean other than having a friend/family member who seems to try too hard to be a matchmaker?"

"Please Dave, just be friendly, get to know her," Anna said with sincerity and softness to her voice that made Dave pause and look down at her.

"Oh, Anna, when am I not at least friendly? She seems very nice." He turned, hoping the conversation was over, and yelled up the stairs, "Kids, NOW!" With that all four kids came running from their rooms, thankfully all seemed to be put together. He said his goodbyes as they went out the door, then grabbed his helmet and backpack and made his way to his motorcycle, heading off to his studio.

Upon arriving, he dropped his helmet and backpack onto the couch and sat at his desk, jiggling the mouse to wake it up so he could begin his research. He quickly discovered why the B&B in question was obviously in need of some new promotional materials if their current website was any indication it looked like someone had taken the photos with their flip phone and the site was not the least bit appealing. Well, surely they couldn't go anywhere but up from here, he smirked to himself.

He spent the next hour working on photo editing before checking his watch and shutting down his laptop to head out to meet Alex.

—

Alex had a few hours to spare, which she had planned for. The B&B was just down the street from Brew, so she parked her car midway and walked down to Brew for breakfast. After a warm greeting from the employees, her part-time coworkers, she made her order and found a corner seat to get comfortable in. She grabbed her tablet out of her messenger bag so she could check emails. She had put in bids for several different clients and was hoping to hear back some good news. She took a sip of her tea and smiled wide as she saw not one, but two emails of confirmation from different clients. She sent back a few replies and as she ate opened up her calendar to begin planning out the timetable for both clients' work.

Her phone began beeping at her, an alarm she had set so she would remember when it was time to leave to head to the B&B. Yes, she knew herself well enough to know she would get so into work she would have been late. She turned off the alarm and quickly packed her bags, dropping her trash in the bin and heading out with a wave to the girls behind the counter.

It was a relatively short walk to the B&B, made even more comfortable by the brightly colored sneakers she wore. Alex was no-nonsense, she wore no makeup, her long, slightly wavy brown hair still damp because she never blew-dry it out of the shower (and often it ended up in a pony tail once dry). Her typical work attire was exactly in the style she was wearing today – jeans, sweater or t-shirt, sneakers. She only dressed up more when appropriate, depending on the client, and for special occasions.

She arrived at the B&B ten minutes early so she sat on the short brick wall that lined the sidewalk, crossing her legs up under her and pulling out the folder with the paperwork she had brought with her. She began flipping through the papers when she heard a motorcycle coming down the street. She wouldn't have glanced up, but she heard it slow down. As she glanced up, she saw it pulling into the space in front of her. One eyebrow raised and a small smirk crossed her mouth as Dave Tiler stepped off his motorcycle and pulled off his helmet. _Well, there's a new bit of information… a motorcycle driver… interesting, to say the least, s_ he thought to herself. She glanced over him as he turned away to briefly adjust things on the bike and strap his helmet down. He was also wearing jeans and a black leather jacket with what appeared to be a black shirt underneath. She was once again struck by the fact that her analysis was more than just… analysis… it was appreciation. She took a deep breath, shaking the thoughts as he turned and smiled at her. How was she supposed to shake the thoughts when he smiled like that.

"Dave, Hi!" She reached out to shake his hand.

"Hi, Alex. So here we are!" He took a glance up at the house ahead of them.

"Yes, this is it. It's a beautiful place. So, first things first, eh?" She turned and nodded him towards the brick wall, setting down the folder and pulling out a few papers. "This is a standard agreement, just so we're clear on what I expect of you and what you can expect of me. Including the rate at which I'd like to pay you if you are agreeable." Dave smiled as he looked over the paperwork and she got a slightly confused look on her face. "What, what is it?"

"Oh, sorry – it's just… well, you are VERY organized, Alex! I mean that in a very good way, please don't get me wrong. You might be the first person I've ever worked with to provide just adequate documentation the foot I step in the door, or on the pavement as the case may be." He smiled again and picked up the paperwork to read over it. "Yes, yes, this looks perfect. I told you there'd be no issue. Do you have a pen I can borrow, I'll sign off on it right now."

She visibly relaxed and smiled, "Perfect, yes here you go." She pulled a pen out of her bag and handed it over. He signed off on the agreement and then she did the same. "Also, I brought along some mock-ups of items I've already started working on for them. Thought it would help you to see the feel I was going with. I'm not opposed to changing it if we feel the pictures taking us a different direction, though. So please, don't feel trapped by what I've already done…".

She handed over a few more pieces of paper that he flipped through. "Oh, Alex, this is brilliant! I don't doubt you are going to do a miracle for their business! I checked out their website before I came…."

She shuddered, "Oh my, yes, well… it doesn't take much to improve on that. Thanks though, I'm glad you agree. She smiled as she kept her eyes on the papers they were viewing. "Well, shall we go on inside? The owners are away on vacation, so our timing is perfect – they won't be hanging about and we can get whatever shots we need… although I might want to get a nice shot of them when they get back."

"Sure, sure, let's get on. I've got everything I should need in my bag."

As they walked up the few steps from the street and up the sidewalk to the house, a ringing began from Dave's jacket pocket. He quickly slipped the phone out and let out a short groan when he saw the number on the screen. "I'm so sorry, Alex. Can you just give me a moment? This is my kids' school – I've got to answer."

"Oh. Sure, sure, no problem." Alex paused and turned away to give Dave a sense of privacy, pretending to look at the exterior of the house. Plus, she was hoping any sign of surprise wasn't showing on her face. Kids? She mulled that one over a bit while she heard Dave giving short, curt answers to whoever was talking on the other end of the phone line.

"Yes, yes, I understand. No, I don't find the behavior appropriate either. So you'll be keeping him in today? Okay, yes, I'll come in the morning to discuss. Thank you. Bye." There were pauses between his statements, but it was obvious someone had gotten into trouble. He hung up the phone and glanced back up at Alex as he put the phone away. "I'm so sorry about that. Appears my son decided it was okay to get into a fight at school today."

"Uh oh, well, it's no problem. I understand," She paused a moment, then decided to go ahead and ask. "So you have kids?" _And a wife then?_ She thought to herself but didn't want to seem too nosy.

Dave seemed a bit surprised, "Yes, five of them actually. One grown and on her own basically. Others live at home." He paused, then raised his eyebrow, "You mean Anna didn't mention any of this to you?"

Alex smirked, "No, no she didn't. You know, for the stickler on details that Anna is, now that I think about it she was very quiet about anything to do with you."

"Yes," Dave chuckled, "that is rather surprising, I'd agree." How peculiar, he thought to himself, Anna was so insistent that he get to know her, and obviously hadn't told either of them very much about each other. He had a choice to make, did he tell her now, or later – about Rita, Sarah, why he was taking calls from his kids' school in the middle of the day instead of a wife he no longer had. He opted for later. "So, shall we go in?"

"Yes, let's do that." She nodded in agreement, deciding if he wanted to get to work and avoid personal details, she wasn't going to push him, even if something inside her desperately wanted to know more about this man and his kids – she was fighting that curiosity as best she could for now.

—

An hour and a half later, Dave & Alex had gotten great shots of each room, some close-ups of particular details that Dave found beauty in. Alex enjoyed watching him work and felt sure his photographs were going to turn out excellent. She loved that he found interest in the smallest things, seeing how they could be used for her work. They spent their time discussing how each photograph could potentially be used, as well as admiring the place itself.

As they drew to an end of the work, Dave glanced at his watch. "I should get going. I want to work on these," he held up his camera, "While it's still fresh in my mind. I'll let you know when I'm done and send them over to you? Hopefully later today."

"Yeah, that'd be great." They walked out of the house together and started out down the sidewalk. "I've got a shift at The Brew tonight, but when I get home I'll look for your email. Once I get the photos and start finalizing all the materials and the website, I'd love to have you take a look, if you don't mind."

"Sure, sounds good. See you later, then." Dave unstrapped his helmet and put it on before hopping onto the motorcycle. He started up the motorcycle then waved. Alex waved back and started to walk away as he pulled off.

Hours later, Alex was working her shift at The Brew. She stood behind the counter, having just rung up a customer's order, and felt her phone vibrate in her apron pocket. She wiped her hands off and quickly grabbed it to check the text.

 _"_ _Ready to send over the photos, what's your email so I can send you the link?"_

She typed a quick reply with her email address and dropped her phone back into her pocket. She was pleased now on multiple accounts with Dave. Without having seen the actual photographs, she had an idea from seeing him work that he was a decent photographer, and now he was also quick in getting back to her with the work. It didn't hurt that he also seemed to be a nice guy who didn't creep her out. She had dealt with that a few times, too.

That night when she got home from work, she quickly got into her PJs and made a cup of tea before sitting comfortably into her office chair and pulling up her email. A few minutes later she grabbed her phone and started typing.

 _A: "These photos are amazing! Thanks so much!" She set the phone down and started working on the materials. It was another half hour before her phone buzzed._

 _D: "Sorry, bed time for the kids. Glad you like them. What's your timeline like?"_

 _A: "I'm working on it now. I'm a night owl. Hoping to have pieces ready for proofing tomorrow. Would like to show the client when they return home next week with hopefully very little changes on their part."_

 _D: "I'll leave you to your work then. Hope it goes well."_

Another hour later and Alex and finished several of the pieces and was uploading pictures to the test website. Her phone buzzed again.

 _D: "Still working?"_

 _A: "Yup, almost done."_

 _D: "You really are brilliant! Couldn't sleep, thought I'd check on the night owl."_

Alex smiled. Was he thinking about her?

 _A: "Thanks, I love my work. Do you have some time tomorrow that you could look over everything?"_

She noted that it took a bit longer for an answer as the three little dots popped up on her screen and hopped for a while.

 _D: "I've got to be at the kid's school for a presentation tomorrow morning, and have clients tomorrow afternoon."_

She was starting to type a response when another text popped up.

 _D: "How about dinner? If you wouldn't mind a house of raving lunatic children, you're welcome to come over and we can look at everything after dinner? Anna and Robin are coming over, too."_

Her jaw hung slack for a moment. She started typing and stopped multiple times. Then another text popped up.

Dave's heart was racing. He was laying in bed in his pajamas, and one moment had decided to text Alex again, the next moment he was suddenly inviting her to dinner with him and the kids. He growled to himself and hit his phone against his head a moment. He was jumping ahead way too fast, but it just seemed like the right thing to do at the moment. Now he was sure he had messed up. He started typing again.

 _D: "Sorry, that may be a bit too personal, I didn't mean to be awkward. We can meet Wednesday morning first thing at my studio."_

Alex checked herself for a moment. Why did this seem like such a big deal? Even if it was a dinner at Dave's home, he was a nice guy and her friends would be there as well. And she had a proposal she wanted to pass by Dave sooner rather than later.

 _A: "No, no. That's okay. Dinner tomorrow is good._

Dave let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. So maybe he hadn't messed things up.

 _A: "What time should I be there? Should I bring anything?"_

 _D: "6 pm okay? Nothing needed."_

 _A: "6 is good. Address?"_

 _D: "5 Hillingdon Drive"_

Alex looked over her work with a deep breath before popping her neck to one side, then the other, and closing out all the windows on her computer screen. She grabbed her phone again and typed.

 _A: "Think I'm done for the night."_

She turned off the lights to her office and made her way to her bedroom, sitting her phone on her bedside table before going to brush her teeth and wash her face before bed. When she came back to bed and got under the covers she saw her phone light up.

 _D: "Good night then."_

 _A: "Good night."_

Not quite ready for either of them to divulge about their past yet, but it's going to happen in the next chapter! At least for one of them – maybe both!


	3. Chapter 3: Dinner & The Inquisition

Common Bonds (Chapter 3)

Alex awoke the next morning with a groan. She hadn't gotten to sleep well the night before. It was hard not to admit she was affected by Dave Tiler when she kept going over what she was going to be doing tonight. Meeting his family. And oh yes, she had a few words for Anna before she even got out of bed She had planned that the night before, and had it not been so late at the time, she would have been lighting up her phone with texts then.

She grabbed at her phone and started typing furiously.

 _I'm coming to dinner at Dave's tonight, too, so I guess I'll see you there. We're going over some work stuff afterwards. By the way, it would have been nice to know that he is married with kids._

She sighed and tapped the side of the phone while she waited for Anna's text.

Anna _: So, you two didn't discuss any of that yet?_

Alex _: Any of what, Anna? He got a call from his kids' school, it wasn't hard to put two and two together._

Anna _: Can you meet me at The Brew for tea? We should talk. In person. In an hour?_

Alex sighed. _Now_ Anna was ready to talk. Finally, she might get some answers. She didn't want to be mad at Anna, after all, Dave was a phenomenal photographer and she was hoping they would work together more in the future. But Alex wasn't ignorant about some things implied by Anna's behavior at the party, like the way she snuck away. To say it was mixed signals was an understatement. Anna was never shy about discussing Alex's love life, but Dave was married with kids!

An hour later Alex sat at The Brew in her favorite chair by the fireplace waiting for Anna to arrive. She did some work from her tablet, checking emails, reviewing her schedule, until Anna approached.

"Hi." Anna said, rather overtly cheerful, as she gave Alex a quick hug and sat down herself.

"Okay, Anna. Can we cut to the chase now? What is going on?"

"Alex," Anna sighed and fiddled with the corner of the arm of the leather chair she sat in, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you two haven't talked about this. I mean, it isn't something one just casually brings up in conversation, and Dave doesn't like to talk about it if it can be helped."

Anna was rambling and Alex was trying to follow along. "Talk about _what_ exactly, Anna?"

"My sister, Rita, was Dave's partner. They never got married but had been together so long they might as well have been. They had three children together. Both had a child of their own before they became partners," Anna slowly and deliberately explained things to Alex.

"Wait. But your sister – she died in a tragic accident, right? She was hit by a car? You've told me about that. You never mentioned she was married, or well practically married, with kids." Suddenly the puzzle pieces fell together in Alex's head. Dave Tiler. Dave Tiler had lost his partner in a car accident. "But Anna, that means…"

"Yes, remember when we realized there were only months separating Rita's death and John's? Dave lost Rita just months after you lost John, Laney, and Blake." Anna looked with deep concern in Alex's eyes. This revelation was one of the things that had brought the two of them so close together. But she knew that at times it was still, of course, a sensitive and tough subject to discuss.

Alex leaned over and rested her forehead in her hands. "This is just—it's just too much. I mean, it explains so much, so many of the questions I had. But… it's just…"

Anna leaned over, giving Alex's shoulder a quick squeeze and leaving her hand there in a comforting gesture. "Breathe deep, Alex. This is a good thing. He's someone who can understand a bit of what you've been through, right?"

Alex nodded her head but covered her mouth as a gasp escaped and tears began to fall down her cheeks. Something about so quickly learning of someone else's grief made her's rear its ugly head. She moved her hands away and gripped her knees. "I just don't know- I don't know if I'm prepared to open up to someone. Will I ever be?"

"When it's the right time, I believe you will be. I've told you what happened to Dave because it was necessary. With the questions you had, you needed to know. But it's up to you to tell him about your own past when you feel the time is right, Alex. I promise I won't say a word about it. Although I did mention to him that you two have a lot in common, I don't think he had a clue what I meant. I won't say anymore. I promise." Anna took Alex's hand briefly and squeezed.

Alex took a deep breath and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes. "Well, now, I suppose it was time for another good cry, it's been a while since my last." She gave her best attempt at a smile. "Really, Anna, thank you for your friendship. I'm thankful we became friends. And I'm so grateful you introduced me to Dave, his photography skills are amazing. I'm hoping we can work together more in the future. That is if I don't make an idiot of myself tonight in front of his kids."

"Are you kidding me? I've seen you with children, you'll be fine."

Alex shook her head, "I can only imagine how they got through the grief they've dealt with."

"Well, there have been a few big bumps in the road. Dave got himself into a serious relationship too soon after Rita's death and everyone involved ended up getting hurt, including the kids. But they're past that now and are quite happy. Obviously, they still have their moments."

"And obviously, I can understand having a moment." Alex nodded, thinking over how tonight might go. "I'm not at all trying to be presumptuous when I ask this, Anna, because as far as I'm concerned right now this is a friendly but business-connected dinner, but I know kids can sometimes assume things, particularly when they see a strange woman invited into their family dinner."

"I can't say they won't be wary, but I'm confident you'll manage. And Dave won't let them run all over you."

"Alright, well," Alex looked down at her watch, "I have to go get some work done before dinner tonight. Thanks for letting me meet you to talk about this."

Alex and Anna said their goodbyes and went their separate ways for the rest of the day. Alex headed back to her flat and finished up work, printing out proofs of the various materials. After texting briefly with Anna, she headed out to do some quick shopping before coming back to the flat to get showered and ready for the evening. She pulled on her dark blue jeans, a black sweater and her black boots. She towel-dried her hair before brushing it out and letting the loose curls fall around one side of her neck. She grabbed her messenger bag and the shopping bag from earlier before heading out to her car. After placing the bags in the passenger seat, she got into the driver's side and pulled up Dave's address on the GPS on her phone, allowing it to direct her to his home.

Upon arriving she saw was grateful to see that Anna and Robin's car was already present in the front drive of the house. She pulled in next to them and got out, grabbing the bags on her way. Stepping up to the house, she took several deep breaths and reached out to press the doorbell just as the door opened.

"You made it, hello!" Dave and Alex exchanged smiles, then Dave glanced down, and his left eyebrow raised as he examined the shopping bag. "I thought I said not to bring anything?"

"Oh, it's just a few things for the hosts." Alex smiled, and Dave ushered her in. Upon entering she was quickly met by Anna and Robin, with hugs and quick greetings. As she hugged Anna, she noticed the kids sitting on the couch in what appeared to be the family room, with a TV show on, though they were all looking in her direction. "And these must be your children, Dave?"

"Yes, here's the lot of them. C'mon kids, come meet Alex," he paused long enough for the kids to get up from the couch and make their way over. "This is Evie, she's eight; Ewan, he's eleven; Paul is thirteen, and that's Lucy, she's seventeen. My eldest, Tanya, couldn't make it. Her son is sick with a stomach bug and they gratefully chose not to share it with the rest of us."

Alex smiled at the kids as they took turns shaking her hand while they were introduced. It was very clear they were a bit wary of her, the older ones at least. Evie didn't seem to mind her too much, her smile seemed genuine. "Well kids, thank you for letting me invade your family dinner so your dad and I could talk a bit of business afterwards. As a thank you for that, I've brought you a little something to share," she reached into the shopping bag, "For the kids, chocolate!" She pulled out a tin of Cadbury's Heroes.

"Oooh, chocolates!" Evie grinned and held out her hand and took the bag. "Thank you!"

Dave quickly swooped in and grabbed them from Evie, "Ah! Not till after dinner!" The kids quickly grumbled at their dad but then turned and headed back to what they were watching on TV.

Alex grinned, then reached her hand back into the bag. "And for the adults," she said as she pulled out a bottle of wine.

"Thank you, Alex. You really didn't have to." Dave took the wine with a sincere smile and went to put it away in the kitchen, hiding the chocolates up high where the kids couldn't get to them yet. "Kids, dinner will be ready in ten minutes!" Dave yelled from the kitchen into the family room.

"Ah, the yelling, I remember the yelling." Alex giggled and she, Anna, and Robin walked into the kitchen and gathered around the bar to chat.

Dave looked over with a blush. "Sorry about that, it's a habit, the yelling. Sometimes it seems like the only way they hear."

"Oh no, don't apologize. It's – okay – kind of nice actually. And after all, I like to think it's not yelling, so much as it's motivational speaking for people that don't want to hear." He returned her grin. She continued to look directly at him. "And I know what you mean –selective hearing and all that, especially with teenagers. Been there, done that." Alex shrugged a bit and smiled at Dave. She had to remember that he didn't know her story yet. He had no reason to. In the same moment she realized that Dave's gaze had remained on her, she realized they had only known each other a few days now. It seemed almost hard to believe. Something about him felt— familiar. The buzzer on the oven beeped and it brought them both out of their thoughts, both blushing and turning their attention away.

Anna smiled as Alex turned back to her and Robin with a sheepish smile on her face. Dave grabbed an oven mitt and opened the oven, pulling out a roast beef.

"Splendid, that smells and looks wonderful," Anna gushed as she helped Dave with moving the dishes to the table.

Dave stepped into the other room, hoping not to yell in Alex's ear again, still curious over her reaction. "Kids, dinner is ready, come have a seat."

Robin began pouring wine for the adults as Alex sat down with Anna to her left. Dave took his place at the head of the table, to Alex's right. Robin sat next to Anna and the children found their places on the opposite side of the table, with Lucy being the eldest sitting at the opposite end of the table.

As they ate dinner, the adults made a bit of small talk, and Alex attempted to ask the children some questions about things they liked, school, etc. She got very few answers, except from Evie, who seemed the most open to talking to her. Dave seemed a bit frustrated by his children's behavior, but since they weren't outright acting out, he chose to remain quiet about it. That was till Paul and Ewan began asking questions back.

"So, your name is Alex? Isn't that a boy's name? I have a friend at school whose name is Alex. Is it some sort of American thing, to give girls boys names?" Ewan spoke up, a bit belligerently.

"Ewan, that is—" Dave shot at his son before Alex interrupted him.

"No, Dave, it's okay." She nodded to Dave before turning back to Ewan. "You'd be right, Ewan, except," she paused and took a sip of her wine, "My name is actually Alexandra. When my mom found out she was pregnant with me, she was determined to believe I was going to be a boy. She had already had my sister. So… she came up with a boy's name and refused to decide on a possible girl's name. It would have been Alexander. But, here I am, a _girl._ " She said the last word with a bit of feigned disgust and rolled her eyes, then began smiling again. "So, she settled on Alexandra. They started calling me Lex when I was young, and when I got to high school I wanted to be rebellious, so I had all my friends start calling me Alex. It just sort of stuck. Later, I had—some loved ones— who called me Lex." In her pauses she glanced quickly at Anna, "But when I moved to Scotland I decided to stick with Alex."

Lucy finally showed attention to the conversation, she snickered and let out a snort, "Wait, _you_ were rebellious in high school?" She glanced at her dad then back to Alex.

"Oh, I had my moments. Nothing too dangerous though, changing my nickname was just about as intense as it got." She paused for a moment, staring off a bit, seeming to go to a different time and place. "But, things like that, mushy nicknames and the like, they mean a lot to parents." She glanced from Lucy to Dave, then back to Ewan. "So, Ewan, that is why I have a boy's name!" she said a bit enthusiastically and smiled wide. Ewan seemed a bit happy with that response and his eyes went back to his food.

Alex thought for a moment that she might have gotten through the worst of the onslaught of questions from Dave's children, until Paul spoke up. "You want to date our dad, don't you?" he accused, a definite sense of bitterness held in his tone.

Dave almost choked on the wine he had just taken a sip of. He started to speak, but Alex held her hand up a bit off the table to stop him and spoke before he could. "Oh, I don't know, Paul. I've only just met him a few days ago. I would like to work with him some more. Your dad is a very talented photographer, but I bet you know that. And—" She grinned and gave a sideways glance at Dave before returning her full attention to Paul, "—he seems nice, I think I might like to be his _friend_ ," she placed emphasis on the word, making it clear she really did just mean what she said. "He seems like he might be a good friend." She spoke smoothly and genuinely. She didn't notice but Dave, Anna, and Robin all looked on in wonder, their jaws slightly slack as they watched the conversation occurring. Dave especially couldn't believe how well she was handling the firing line, and frankly was in awe. Alex leaned over the table a bit conspiratorially towards both boys. "You tell me, boys, would he be a good friend or is he going to try and beat me at all my video games?"

The boys both leaned back in their chairs, almost synchronously, Ewan spoke first. " _YOU_ play video games?!"

Alex grinned. "Doesn't everyone?"

With that the boys both started firing questions at her, kind ones, about what games she played, what systems she had, and everyone relaxed back into finishing their dinner. Alex continued to smile as she answered. She knew she hadn't won the war, it wasn't over, but she was pretty sure she had maybe just won one of the battles.

They finished dinner soon after, and the kids begged their dad for the chocolates Alex had brought. He sent them off for one more episode of their favorite show while they snacked on the chocolates. Anna and Robin insisted on cleaning up so Dave and Alex could begin their work.

As soon as the dining table was cleared, Alex brought her messenger bag in and pulled out four folders, plus her laptop. While her laptop turned on and loaded, she opened the first folder and began laying out proofs. "Well, here we are." She then pulled up the test website on the laptop and sat down. Dave sat down next to her, crossed his arms on the table in front of him and turned towards her before looking at the papers in front of him.

"Alexandra Stanton," he spoke each syllable purposefully with a grin, "I do believe you are a force to be reckoned with."

"Oh." She grinned, glancing at him a bit playfully before fiddling with the corner of the folder in front of her. "What makes you say that?"

"Oh, I don't know, perhaps the way you so miraculously dealt with the harsh critique my children were prepared to deal out to you."

"Well," she drew out the word, "I have a little experience in the minefields children will lay for those they deem enemies."

"You mean like their own parents? I'm dealing with minefields all day it seems sometimes." Dave chuckled.

Alex caught his eyes. "That's exactly what I mean actually," she quietly responded, then turned back to the papers, trying to quickly move on, swallowing hard. "So, go ahead then, tell me what you think. Be honest now, it's quite a bit of your work on these pages, I want you to be pleased with how it's presented."

Dave nodded slowly to himself a moment, not having missed her first statement. Before he could follow his own thoughts into what she meant, she led his attention to the work in front of them. "Yes, well," he said as he looked over the proofs in front of him, "I have to say, Alex, I love your work." He saw that Alex wasn't taking him seriously. "I mean it, it's brilliant. If you can say I'm a good photographer, I can say you're good at this. You have a great eye for this sort of thing."

They talked a while longer, her or him pointing out specific photos or layout points and discussing them. She had pulled out a red pen and was marking certain items as they discussed them. She scrolled through the website, showing him different items there as well.

"Alright, well I'm going to make those few changes we discussed, then I'll have them prepared for the clients return on Monday," Alex said happily, shuffling the papers back together. As she finished putting them back into the folder she turned her body slightly towards Dave and looked up at him, "Dave, while I'm here, I was wondering if we could discuss a couple other things?"

"Oh?" Dave said, his voice squeaking up a bit higher, deceiving him in his hope to not seem a bit concerned by that open-ended question.

"Well, I was being honest when I said I think you're a fantastic photographer." She paused, holding the folders in one hand and tapping them against her other. "You see, yesterday before we met for the photos of the B&B, I actually had just gotten two more work proposals accepted by other business." She wasn't looking at him as she spoke, shuffling out two of the other folders. "I wanted to ask you, if you were okay with how things have gone so far, if you'd be interested in working with me on projects in the future? Like these two?" She set the two folders down on the table and opened them, revealing in each a one-page document that summarized the company and the work involved. "I of course understand that you'd probably want to take it on a case by case basis. I'm sure some of it might be dreadfully boring to you…"

"Well—" Dave paused and feigned concern, "Are you sure you want to work with me, I mean, you don't know, I may try to beat you at your video games." His serious expression broke into a wide grin. They both broke into a laugh together.

"Fat chance you could even do that, mister." She laughed and pushed into his shoulder with her own. "You may not have been listening at the moment, but your boys, in no uncertain terms, made it clear that you are no good at video games."

"Argh!" he gave a fake cry of disgust. "Outed by my own children." Then he chuckled along with her for a moment. "Seriously though, I'd love to work with you. It's good for business— actually sounds like it's going to be good for both our businesses, so I don't see as I can say no.?"

"Well, alright then," she smiled. "You keep these," she said as she handed him the two folders, "give them a read through and let me know what you think." She pulled the other folders back into her messenger bag, shut down her laptop and began packing it away in the bag. In perfect timing, Anna came back down from putting Evie to bed, Robin having checked to be sure the boys were also settled in for the night.

"You all done, Alex? Would you like to walk out with us?" Anna spoke up, upon seeing Alex hefting her messenger bag over her shoulder.

"Sure, sounds good." She turned to Dave and held out her hand. "Dave, thanks so much for dinner. I really enjoyed it. Even with the minefield." She winked and smiled.

Dave smiled back to her, taking her hand and gently pulling her in for a quick hug with his other arm. "Ah, pleasure was all mine," he said, releasing her quickly, but she still felt a bit of a blush rising up, "I'm glad we could get together to finish up that project. I look forward to going over these." He nodded towards the folders he had set on the table. "I'll get back with you as soon as I can."

"Alright then." She nodded and smiled and the three made their way out the door. Dave stood at the doorway as they walked to their cars, leaning against the doorframe and watching Alex walk to her car and sling her messenger bag gingerly into the passenger seat. She smiled and waved as she got into the driver's seat and he waved back, waiting for her to start her car before stepping back inside.


	4. Chapter 4: Discovery

After seeing off his dinner guests, Dave locked the door for the night and turned to turn the lights off downstairs and head up for bed. He stopped in his tracks when she saw Lucy sitting on the steps in front of him. She was glaring at him inquisitively.

"What's wrong, Luce?" He sat down on the stair step next to her.

"What's the deal, Dad? Tell me about her. Don't lie."

It still made Dave's heart jump to hear Lucy called him dad. He still remembered the conversation they had, twenty-two months after Rita died, when Lucy decided that—while her biological father was a nice man, and she was happy to find him—it was Dave who was her 'dad.' He couldn't lie and say he hadn't had quite a few tears well up when she first said it to him, first called him her now, here they were: her grilling him about the woman who had come into their home that night.

After he had gotten over his own shock at inviting Alex over for dinner (even if it was for "business") he had grown more concerned about how the kids would react. Even then, he had determined he wouldn't cancel out of cowardice and the night had gone on. If he was honest with himself now, he was happy he hadn't. Alex had handled her self magnificently with his children, handling their inquisition without breaking a sweat.

"The truth is, Lucy, I am doing photography work for Alex. She runs a business doing publicity and promotional work for small businesses. She needed a photographer, Anna introduced us. We needed to meet and I was going to be busy all day long, so I invited her to dinner, so we could go over things afterwards. It's as simple as that."

Lucy wasn't very convinced. "But do you like her?" she asked, continuing to push him for answers.

"Well she seems to be a decent human being. If I had to choose between like and dislike, I'd say I like her, yes." Dave purposefully avoided the connotation of her question a little longer.

Lucy shot him another one of her teenage glares. "You know that is _not_ what I mean, Dad."

"I've known her three days, Lucy! How can I possibly know what I think?" Dave was exasperated, but he tried not to raise his voice.

Lucy continued to question. "Do you find her attractive?"

Dave groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Do I have to have this discussion with you?"

"I'm not going upstairs till we do." Lucy was holding firm.

Dave sighed, repeating her question to delay a bit longer. "Do I find her attractive?" He paused. "She's an attractive woman—yes," he stumbled through, finding the whole conversation awkward with the seventeen-year-old girl sitting before him. He was still thinking through all this himself. Three days, it had only been three days. He wasn't rushing into another relationship, not like he had with Sarah. But his hesitancy in answering the question had nothing to do with how attractive he found her, because yes, he did find her attractive. He was hesitant in sharing these feelings with the girl he considered his own daughter. Rita's daughter. "She seems to be a truly kind woman, Lucy. Did you see something different tonight? Am I missing something? We are going to be working together more, so she might be around again, but I am not in this for a romantic relationship."

"She was fine—I guess." Dave knew he wasn't going to get more of an approval than that from Lucy right now.

"I can't say what's going to happen down the road, Lucy. But for now, it's work, okay?" Dave took the hand she had resting on her knee and squeezed it gently.

Her next statement was half question, half accusation. "It's been two years."

"Yes, yes it has. Two years." He sighed, released her hand and put his arm around her, leaning her into his chest. "I love you, Lucy. Go to bed."

"Love you too, Dad. Goodnight." She got up out of his arms and walked back up the stairs. A moment later he heard her door shut.

He sat, staring off into the space in front of him for a while. Two years since Rita died. A year and a half since he walked away from Sarah and she moved on. Three days since he met Alex. Those three thoughts kept repeating in his head. He slowly got up, methodically walking through the house, shutting off lights before heading upstairs. After washing up, he went in and closed the door to his bedroom, changing into pajamas and sitting down on his bed. He picked up his phone and glanced at the text message there:

Alex: _Thanks for dinner. I enjoyed the evening._

Dave: _Thanks for coming, it was nice. Sorry about the interrogation from my children._

Alex: _No problem. Sounded like they are concerned for their dad. That's a good thing. :) Good night, now._

Dave _: Good night._

A couple days after Alex came to dinner, Dave ended up signing on to work with Alex on both the upcoming projects she had been offered. Things were going well for his photography business, but it made smart business sense to him not to pigeon hole himself into one style of photography. And it meant getting to know the mysterious woman who deflected the interrogation of his children with ease.

It was that same day that Lucy came running in from school waving a piece of paper in the air. "Dad, Dad! You have got to see this!"

"Whoa, whoa, Luce, what is it?" He tried to calm her down and avoid getting swiped by the paper being pushed into his face.

"I looked up Alex Stanton on the internet today during break. Dad, you have to see this!" She was out of breath and holding the paper up in his face.

He pushed it down and glared at her. "You did _what_!? And where did you get on the internet at school?"

"The library, Dad." She rolled her eyes. "It's allowed if it's legitimate news and research sites. And this was. Just look, Dad!" She pushed the paper into his chest.

He straightened the paper out and looked at the headline.

 _"WIFE SPEAKS OUT AFTER DRUNK DRIVING ACCIDENT LEAVES HUSBAND AND CHILDREN DEAD"_

His jaw dropped open as he read the headline then looked down and saw below it a picture of Alexandra Stanton. He steadied himself against the stairwell banister, sliding down to sit on the stairs. Lucy was speaking loudly at him, summarizing the article, but there was a loud buzzing in his ears that came with shock.

"She was married with two children, Dad. They were fourteen and nine. They were killed by a drunk driver in the middle of the afternoon."

Dave glanced over the article, seeing bits of the sentences, statements here and there, not able to fully take it in. The article was from what appeared to be a small-town newspaper in the US, presumably the one she had lived in. He saw the husband's name, John, and the children – Elaina and Blake. She had lost them. Instantly. Killed by reckless driving.

"Dad." Lucy shook his shoulder to get his attention. "Dad, do you see the date? Look at when it happened."

Dave's sight skimmed over the article again. There it was, near the beginning. "It was…"

"It was two months before mom died," Lucy finished his sentence.

The buzzing noise in his ears came back. The emotions were rising, it had been a while since they were so close to the surface. The grief never left, but it stayed quiet, most of the time. But this was so—he cleared his throat and sniffed, holding the tears at bay as he jumped up quickly and turned to head upstairs, going straight into his room and closing the door behind him, leaving Lucy behind, staring at him as he left. He sat on the edge of the bed, holding the crumpled paper in his hand. Tears began slowly down his cheeks and a small whimper escaped. He had lost so much when he lost Rita. And here was a woman who had lost that and more. For a moment he let himself think about what it would have been like if he had not just lost her, but the kids too. Even just one of them, but not all his children. To be left so terribly alone. A sob escaped, and he grasped his hand over his mouth.

After a few minutes of staring down at the photo on the paper, he cleared his throat and pulled his phone out of his pocket. After tapping at the screen a few times, he put it up to his ear and listened to it ring through till he heard the woman on the other end pick up and answer.

"Anna, I was wondering if you could pop by? I just need to talk with you about something." He listened to her speak on the other end of the line. "Yeah, it's to do with something Lucy brought home from school. I just need some clarity and thought you might be able to help." He paused while she replied. "Okay, yes, I'll see you then."

An hour later, Dave sat opposite Anna at the table. The printed article that Lucy had brought home sat in front of her. She glanced between it and Dave, he alternated between staring at her and out the window. When she had come in earlier, he ushered her into the dining room, explained Lucy had brought something home from school and slid it across the table to her. She had read through the article, but she already knew the story. She had heard it straight from Alex almost six months ago when they had become friends.

Lucy slipped in quietly, she had tears running down her cheeks. "Dad, I just wanted to learn more about her. I was worried about you. I was being mean. I was hoping I would find something bad about her." Her tears grew stronger. "I had no idea—"

Dave jumped up and pulled Lucy into a hug. He was so close to his own tears again. He sighed and took a deep breath. "Lucy, I understand you thought you were helping." He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. "I need you to go back out with your brothers and sister now. Your aunt and I must discuss some things. Do _not_ tell your brothers or sister about this right now."

Lucy wiped her tears, nodded, turned, and quietly went back out the way she had come. The kids were outside playing, and she was keeping an eye on them. When he heard the backdoor close, he turned back to Anna.

"Dave, it wasn't my place to tell you—" Anna began, but Dave quickly interrupted.

"But, you told her about Rita?" His tone was calm, but she could see under the surface he felt anything but that.

"She knew about Rita before she ever met you. We had become friends. We shared our grief with each other. Me for my sister, her for her husband and children. She had no idea you were Rita's partner until the morning you had her over for dinner. I introduced you to her for work, but she had assumed some things based on my behavior. That I was trying to set you two up—" Dave's eyebrow raised at that moment. She wasn't the only one who had guessed that much. "So, she was terribly confused after she found out you had children, at that point she assumed you were married and she was trying to figure out why I would have tried to set her up with you. I had to explain it to her. As soon as I told her you were Rita's partner, all the pieces fell into place for her. But it had only been days since you first met, I don't think she felt comfortable walking into your home and talking about her own past."

Dave glared at her and spoke sternly, "I do _not_ hold Alex responsible for any of this… confusion. I have two questions for you. The first one is this, were you trying to set us up that night at your party?"

"No, Dave, honestly. When I called you over that night to meet her, it wasn't what I was thinking about. She _needed_ a photographer. But after I saw you two standing there together talking to each other, I suddenly realized how much more you had in common. I can't say then that the thought didn't occur to me, at that moment. But I haven't done a thing to encourage anything, Dave. I have left the two of you to yourselves to figure it out." She paused for a moment. Dave was quietly tapping the table, staring out the window, thinking through her confession. "Dave, she was heart broken when she realized what had happened to you," she added the last statement, compassionately.

"Yes, well," He sniffed and looked at her, the tears welled up in his eyes, he rubbed at them a bit, and ran his hand over his face. "I can honestly say that feeling is mutual, now."

"And your second question was?"

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"There is evidence of your past all around you, Dave. The children. Taking calls from their school during work. A father present, but no mother. Someone walks in the house and there are family pictures all over the place. Evidence everywhere of what has happened to you. The point is, she needed to know before she walked in here, what to expect or else she would have been bowled over by her own grief in that moment. She has none of those things. She can hide it if she wants to. She keeps a picture hidden in her wallet. I've never been to her house, no idea about there. She obviously moved all the way here from America to Scotland to get away from the reminders of her past, of her grief. It's up to her to share that with whom she wants. And I promised her I would leave it to her to share. Call me what you will, Dave, but I do keep my promises. To family and to friends."

Dave nodded slowly and reached across the table, squeezing Anna's hand briefly. "Yes, yes you do, Anna. I haven't always made it easy for you, have I? Of course—" He gave a small smile and continued, "—you haven't always made it easy for me either."

"Lots of water under that bridge." She paused, looking him over and back down at the paper, she slid it back over to him. "What will you do, now that you know?"

Dave laced his fingers together and leaned his chin onto his hands with a sigh. "I really have no idea."

"I suppose the right thing to say would be to 'follow your heart?'" Anna shrugged.

Dave cringed as he spoke, "Eh, I don't know about that. We've both seen where me following my 'heart' gets me. One word: Sarah."

Anna sighed, and drew out her first words, "Well you know how I felt about that then. I was fairly certain it was a different body part guiding your actions. But you did care deeply about her, and I suppose she did for you too."

"Well now," Dave said a bit surprised, "that was hard for you to admit just now, wasn't it?" He shrugged and nodded. "You are probably right on all accounts, however." He tapped his finger on the table for a moment before looking back at her. "Will you stay? While I tell the rest of the kids about this? I think they should know before anything else happens."

Anna nodded. "Of course, whatever you need."

Dave got up and walked to the backdoor, opening it and yelled out, "Kids come in please! Family meeting at the table!"

A few minutes later, all four children, looking a bit flush from a game of tag in the back garden, were seated around the table. Dave looked from Anna to Lucy then towards the other children.

"Today Lucy found out some news about our friend Alex, who came and visited us for dinner the other night. She looked her up on the internet in an attempt to learn more about her." Dave looked back at Lucy. "She found an article about Alex from two years ago when she still lived in the United States. It seems that Alex was once married with two children. A daughter who was fourteen, and a son who was nine." He moved his eyes between his own children as he spoke, wanting to gauge their actions to the upcoming information. He began speaking again, this time slowly, "There was a tragic accident," he paused. "Her husband and both her children were killed." As he expected, the kids looked shocked.

Lucy decided to speak up at that moment. "It happened two months before we lost mum." That revelation sucked the wind out of all four kids and there was whimpering and sniffling from around the table, as they, with varying degrees of success, tried to hold back tears.

Dave quickly scooted his chair out and opened his arms. "Alright now, everybody come here." All four kids crowded into his lap and they held each other in a big group hug. He waved Anna and she awkwardly joined in from a standing position.

"Dad, what are you going to do?" Paul spoke up, and they all pulled back, staying huddled around together.

"Well, I think Alex had the right idea when she was here for dinner. I think it would be nice for us all to be friends with her, don't you?" All four children nodded in agreement. "Alright then, that's decided. Off you go, now. Say bye to Anna, I'm sure she needs to get back—then back outside a wee bit longer before we have dinner."

Later that evening after dinner, Dave was sitting on the couch, Ewan, Paul, and Evie were crowded around him, snuggling, and Lucy sat on the floor leaned against him. They were watching TV, enjoying a Friday night with no school the next day.

"Dad." Ewan turned to him on the couch. "I think you need to talk to Alex _tonight_."

Dave was a bit confused at the urgency his son had, "Why is that?"

Ewan looked down, bashfully. "I feel bad about how we treated her at dinner the other night. I don't want her to think—" He sighed and looked back up at his dad. "—I just think she should know we care. That we want to be her friends, like you said."

"Well, you were a bit overprotective of your old dad, I'll say that." Dave scrubbed his hands through Ewan's hair. "But Alex didn't think any less of you for it."

"Still Dad, Ewan's right," Paul piped up in agreement with his brother. "You should go talk to her, now."

"I can't go now, boys. It's late." Dave was surprised by the boys' insistence.

"It's not that late, Dad! It's just after 8 o'clock!" Lucy piped in now.

"Yeah, Dad, you should go see Alex!" Now it was Evie's turn.

"My goodness, such unity from the four of you! I never thought I'd see it." Dave got up and took the now empty bowl of popcorn back to the kitchen. He set it in the kitchen sink and sighed before pulling his phone out.

Dave: _Anna, do you know what Alex is up to tonight?_

Anna: _She works till 9 o'clock tonight. Why?_

Dave: _My children are bullying me into finding her. Tonight. All four of them in agreement. It's as if the planets have aligned for that to happen. I feel I'd be remiss not to listen._

Anna: _Right you are. Good luck._

Dave walked back into the hallway and took his coat off the hook, slipping it on as he spoke, "Alright. Lucy, you are in charge. Be responsible. You can stay up one more hour then it's to bed with all of you. Lucy, you call me if there is even a hint of trouble, you understand? Lock the door after me."

Lucy jumped up and ran to give Dave a hug. "Good luck, Dad."

Dave grabbed his keys and helmet from the table by the door. Lucy shut the door behind him and turned the lock.

At 9:10 p.m. Alex walked out of The Brew and spotted him across the street. He was leaned against the stone wall that lined the pavement, his motorcycle was parked a few feet away, just behind her car. She stopped, and they stared at each other a few moments before she glanced away to look down the street both ways, then turned back and ran across the street.

She saw the look in his eyes as she came closer. They were bloodshot red (for the second time that day, though she didn't know that).

"Oh, God." She looked down, stuffing her hands into her coat pockets, then looked back up into his eyes. "You found out, didn't you?"

"Yeah." He sniffed and looked away a moment. "Lucy was performing some independent covert ops apparently—she looked you up on the internet."

"I see." She glanced down again.

"Needless to say, her search for dirt went a bit wrong. She's terribly sorry for being nosy." Dave kept eye contact with her.

"It's—it's okay really. I suppose you've talked to Anna?"

"Yes, we had a talk this afternoon. Can we take a walk through the park?" He nodded his head down the street.

"Sure." She nodded and turned to walk with him. They walked a bit before she spoke up. "I practically made Anna tell me. I don't want you to think she was being a gossip, sharing about your private life—and then after I found out, there were several times I wanted to say something—but it didn't seem to be the right time. And, I didn't want to cause you pain by having you relive your own past because of mine."

"Your own pain is equally as important to recognize here, Alex. You said at dinner on Tuesday night that you wanted to be my friend. The feeling is mutual, and I guess that means we both acknowledge our pasts and help each other out, right? I can't imagine what it must have been like for you. I mean, losing a spouse, yes—I know that feeling all too well. But losing your children too? Alex, it's a horrible thing." Dave shook his head at the thought.

They turned and headed into the park, walking down the pathway. "Dave, can we make a promise now—to not ever act like one of us has endured more or less pain and grief? No comparisons of who lost more. I'd say—we both have lost so much, Dave. Too much."

"Agreed." Dave nodded and turned his head to smile at her. "I feel better already, you know."

"Good, I'm glad. Me too." Alex smiled too. "Do you want to keep walking? Will you tell me a little about Rita?"

"Sure, okay." He took a deep breath and began sharing about how they had met, decided to become serious, having children together, but Rita's insistence that she didn't need or want to be married to express their commitment to each other. He skimmed over the years quickly and held it together well until he got to the end of their story together. He cleared his throat in his typical attempt to ward off his tears and emotional high. "I know you've heard about what happened from Anna."

She nodded, and they walked in silence for a while longer before he spoke up again. "So, your turn. Tell me about John, Elaina, and Blake."

"Okay—well then—we were married fifteen years when it happened. Laney was in ninth grade, Blake was in fourth. We met…" She continued in their story for another ten minutes. In that time, they had walked a circle and were headed back towards the entrance to the park.

After she finished, also leaving off the end details since Dave had learned most of that, he spoke up. "So, I neglected to tell you earlier that it was my children who pushed me to come here tonight. I wasn't sure what the right time was to talk to you. But after they all found out, they were determined. I've not seen then come together in such a unified fashion since they begged me for a dog. They practically pushed me out the door." Dave chuckled.

"Oh, I see! If I had known pity would get me on their side, perhaps I would have shared my story before Detective Lucy could dig it up." Alex smirked, not out of bitterness, but finding humor in the sad situation.

"Oh, no, no." Dave pushed against her shoulder as they walked down the pavement towards the car and motorcycle. "Nothing like that."

"Yes, I know, just kidding." She said and they chuckled together. They stopped walking as they stepped up to Alex's car. "Thanks for coming, Dave," she said, "I'm glad the kids pushed you out the door."

"Yeah, me too." He smiled, looked down at his watch, and his mouth turned down in a frown. "Oh, I have got to get home. I left Lucy in charge, and at least one, if not all of the kids is probably going to be up waiting to hear how things went."

"Okay then." she said as she reached into her messenger bag to dig for her keys. She looked up when she felt his hand on her shoulder and she smiled up at him. He pulled her into his chest and gave her a hug, which she returned as he squeezed her gently. He released her, and she turned to push the button on the key fob and unlock the car while he walked over to unlock his helmet from the back of his motorcycle.

He turned back to her as she opened the door. "Say, do you have work tomorrow? Ewan has a game, we're all going to cheer him on. If you'd like to join us, I think the kids would like to see you again. Tanya will be there with Sam, so you could meet them. Tanya's been wanting to meet you and learn more about your business since I told her about you on Tuesday. We could discuss those new projects afterwards?"

A wide smile grew on her face. "I'm not on the schedule tomorrow, that sounds great."

"Meet us at the house then, at 1 o'clock tomorrow afternoon."

"Alright, see you then." She smiled, nodded, and got into the car. He got onto his motorcycle and started it but waited till she started her car and drove off before pulling out as well.

Dave slipped back into the house and surprisingly found the house quiet and all but the small lamp on the entry table turned off. He pulled his jacket off and slung it back onto its hook, dropping his helmet and keys on the table. He crept up the stairs and peaked into Evie's room, then the boys, impressed to find them asleep. He started to slip into his room when he heard a door squeak open. He peered across the hall to find Lucy peeking out of her door. She opened it the rest of the way and slipped out, whispering to him. "How'd it go?"

"Really well. You mind if she joins us at Ewan's game tomorrow? I thought it would be a fun time for all of us, maybe? You think everyone else will be okay with that?"

"Yeah, that's great, Dad—I really am looking forward to getting to know her more. She really was nice the other night. I was such a brat." Lucy shook her head at herself.

"Water under the bridge, Luce. Time for bed, now. But hey, good job with the kids tonight," he whispered back to her and nodded to the other kids' bedroom doors. "I'm very impressed."

Lucy smiled wide and came over, giving Dave a kiss on the cheek and a hug before walking back to her room and closing the door.

Dave followed his normal bedtime routine, getting washed up and into pajamas and went to bed. He checked his phone and chuckled at the text.

Alex _: I have no idea what to wear tomorrow. I've never been to a football game. What colors should I wear, I know that's important?_

He continued to smile as he typed back, received a response, and put his phone back down on the bedside table. He turned off the light, lay his head down on his pillow, and fell asleep with that smile on his face.


	5. Chapter 5 : Football & Fears

Common Bonds (Chapter 5)

A/N: Chapter 5 of this story sat for a while as I worked on some of my other more popular stories. Then when looking at AO3 one day I noticed my first ever fanfic, this, my Single Father story, actually had a subscriber. So, to whoever you are, my lone SF subscriber, this chapter is for you. You inspired me to sit down and flesh out this chapter. I was intimidated by my lack of knowledge about football and Scotland. Thanks to basmathgirl for her help!

* * *

"Are you sure I look fine for a football match? A proper Scottish football match?" Alex stood back up away from her phone, which she had propped up so that her brother, Nathan, could see her whole outfit on camera via the video chat. She spun around another time.

"Alex, it's 6:00 in the morning here. You're asking your big brother for fashion advice. For the first time in the forty-some years of your life, might I add. And now that you're asking, you aren't going to believe me? I said yes. You said the team colors were the same as the Scotland National Football Team – that's blue, and they wear white shorts. You are wearing a blue and white striped sweater with your blue jeans. This is a kid's football match. No national crises will come from your outfit choice. I'm telling you, you're good to go. Why does this matter so much that you had to wake me up an hour before my alarm?" Her brother still looked half asleep as he grumbled at her.

She came back up to the desk and sat down, now only her face showing in view on the camera. She scratched the back of her neck and scrunched her face up a bit. "I'm not so much worried about a _national_ crisis as a _business_ one."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I told you, this guy, Dave—we're doing some work together here. He's a photographer. And he has four children living at home, and one adult child who works with him. If his children have a good impression of me, it can only help our business relationship. It's important to me to make a good impression. It won't do for them to think I'm a daft American who doesn't know about things like this," she insistently explained.

"But—isn't that basically what you are then? A daft American who doesn't know about things like this?" He smirked.

Her face dropped into a frown and she rolled her eyes at him. "You are NOT helping. I'm using my resources. You're the family member into sports and stuff. I'm the artsy one. Remember?"

He chuckled then gave her a questioning look. "Are you sure this is only about business? No other reasons you're trying to impress his kids?"

She growled, "It's not like that. We've only known each other two weeks. Friends, maybe. Nothing more."

He shrugged. "You know, _some_ _people_ have already made their move by two weeks."

"Yes, well," she flatly stated, " _some people_ aren't me—or him for that matter."

"Clearly." He nodded. "I'm just saying, Lex—it's okay if you are trying to impress him and his kids for—other—reasons. You're allowed to find someone. To be happy."

She smiled. "Thanks, bro. Yes, I know. I'm just cautious, you know that. I don't want to rush. Or mess things up."

"Well. Just go out and have fun, okay? Send us some pictures. You know Danielle and the boys love to see your pictures."

"Will do. Thanks for taking my early morning call. I waited as late as I could to call you. I needed time to be able to change before leaving if I had to. I'll call later this week for a dad update, unless I hear from you first. Give my love to Danielle and the boys."

"Sounds good. Will do. Love you, bye."

"Love you, bye!"

She hit 'END' on the video call and sat back in her office chair. When she moved to Scotland a year ago, her brother thought she was crazy. They had a few arguments regarding her timing, her motivations for moving so far away, what she was running from, etc. Within weeks of her moving, they had patched things up after a long phone conversation. A few months after that and he had even gone so far as to say she sounded happier than she had in a long time, and that maybe the move really was good for her.

They rarely spoke before John and the kids died. After that, they began speaking more often. Now that she was in Scotland, they spoke on a weekly basis.

She took the opportunity, while she sat at her desk, to pull together a few files. Since Dave had mentioned discussing their upcoming projects after the game, she wanted to take the information she had gathered so far with her. She put the folders in her bag, along with her tablet, and went to eat a small lunch before heading out. She wasn't sure if they'd be having anything at the match, or having tea afterwards, so she thought it best to have something that could at least hold her over till afterwards if necessary.

* * *

She timed it perfectly, and just a few minutes before 1 o'clock she was pulling up at Dave's house. Being honest with herself, she was more nervous now than she had been when coming for dinner that first night. Now that she knew the kids, and they knew her, and everyone knew a bit more about each other's past—it made it a bit more daunting. Since moving to Scotland, she rarely told people about her past. She never wanted to forget about the family she had lost, but the move was supposed to be a fresh start. It was frustrating when people started 'walking on eggshells' around her after finding out. She took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. Anna was right, she was glad Dave now knew—he was someone who could truly understand loss—not just pretend to. She slipped out of her car, pulling her messenger bag out behind her and slipping it over her head, across her body. She was just a few steps away from the door when it opened, and a football came rolling out, Ewan running out after it.

"Oh, hello," Ewan said to her. "Dad! Alex is here!" he yelled back into the house before running after the ball and kicking it around in the front garden.

"Hi, Ewan!" She smiled after him.

"Come on in!" she heard Dave yell from inside. She stepped in the door and saw Evie running up stairs, with Lucy following close on her heels. "We're almost ready," Dave said as he checked through his camera bag. He looked up after a moment. "Oh, look at you!" He looked at her clothing. "You're prepared to cheer on the team, aren't you?"

Alex looked down with concern. "Is it too much? Do I look foolish?"

"No, no. Not at all!" He smiled, stepping over from where he had been, moving closer in front of her. "Thank you for making such an effort to support Ewan."

"Alright, Dad! She's ready!" Lucy came barreling down the stairs, Evie following behind.

"Where's Paul?" he questioned her.

"Getting his shoes on. Ewan's already out-front—practicing," Lucy replied as she grabbed her own bag off a hook by the front door.

"Alright then, everyone, let's go!" Dave yelled, and Paul came running from his room and down the stairs.

As they stepped outside and shut the door behind them, Paul piped up, "Dad, how are we all getting there? There's not enough room in the car for all of us and Alex."

Dave stopped suddenly. "Oh, uhh-" He glanced at the four children and Alex.

"It's okay, I'll drive!" Alex chimed in.

"Yes, but have you ever been to the field? We don't want you to get lost," Dave said, annoyed with himself that he hadn't thought through this far.

Paul stepped up next to Alex. "I'll go with her, Dad. We'll follow you, and I know the way if we get separated."

Dave smiled at his oldest son then looked to Alex. "Alright with you?"

"Sure!" Alex smiled at Paul as he went around to the passenger's side. As they both got into their seats and belted in, she started the conversation with, "So Paul, would you be willing to give me a quick overview of how football is played here? You know where I'm from it's soccer—football is a very different game. I want to know what's going on so I can cheer for Ewan properly during his game."

Paul smiled at her. She really was trying hard, and he remembered the conversation his dad had with he and his siblings earlier. "Sure, I can do that."

* * *

An hour later, Alex jumped up and down where they stood by the touchline as she yelled, "Go Ewan! Wooo!" The boy had scored a goal, even she knew that was a good thing. She was standing next to Evie, who had insisted she stay by her side. Paul stood next to Evie, then Dave, then Sam and Tanya.

Alex didn't notice Tanya, who after catching the perfect shot of Ewan after his goal, had turned and snapped one of her cheering. Dave was clapping at the game, but smiling and looking over at the American. Tanya leaned over Sam to her father, and whispered, "I like her, Dad. She seems fun."

Dave had turned back to watching the match and didn't look at Tanya as he responded quietly, "Yes, she does."

Tanya grinned at her dad and whispered again, "And she's single?"

That got his attention and he turned towards his oldest child. "Not you too. We're just—"

"—Business partners. Yes, Dad. I know. But I see the way you look at her. C'mon, just give yourself the chance to _consider_ it a possibility?"

Dave swallowed hard, not responding, and glanced back over at Alex at the same time she happened to glance at him. They both smiled at each other then turned back to the game.

Tanya leaned in to her dad one last time. "You said you two needed to go over work. Why don't I watch the kids after the game, you can show her the studio, then take her out to dinner."

Dave's left eyebrow raised. " _You_ are _offering_ to babysit?" He looked at her for a moment longer, her not giving up the smile on her face. "You really are serious, aren't you? Okay, we'll see—"

Shortly before the game ended, Evie and Sam were both complaining of needing to go to the toilet. "Okay, c'mon, I'll take you." Tanya stood up and took each child's hand and let them off the bleacher.

Paul had left their group earlier to stand with friends, which left Alex and Dave alone. Dave looked away from the field to Alex, whose head was turned towards the other end of the field. "You've kept up very well, with as little as you knew about football before today." When she turned towards him, he realized something was wrong. He could tell she was on the verge of tears. He stepped over towards her, moving right next to her and put his hand on her back to comfort her. "Are you alright?"

"Sorry, yeah. It's just—" Alex wiped a hand across her cheeks to catch the tears that fell. "I haven't been around this many kids in a long time. It makes me start to miss mine." Dave made a quick decision and moved his hand the rest of the way around her shoulder and pulled her into a side hug. She allowed herself to lean into it for a moment before straightening up. "Oh, I'm embarrassed now, I'm so sorry."

"You're kidding right?" Dave turned his body to face her more directly. "You _never_ have to apologize to me for being upset, mourning your loss. You know that, right?" She nodded and smiled at him, glancing around a bit anxiously. He watched her, thinking a moment longer before continuing, "Listen, Tanya had a suggestion. The kids are going to be climbing the walls after the game, she suggested we might be able to get more work done if we headed over to my studio, so she offered to watch the kids." He paused, then seeing her still fragile state, continued, "Would you like to get out of here? You could head on over there? I'll give you the address and my key. I've got everything you might need for tea or coffee. You can have some peace and quiet, clear your head, and I'll meet you there once I get the kids home and settled."

"I feel horrible though about leaving early— but I can't say it doesn't sound like a great idea right now." She glanced around again. "It's just gotten a bit overwhelming all the sudden—"

"It's settled then." Dave reached into his pocket and took his keys out, taking off the key to the studio, and then pulled out his wallet to get a business card with the studio address on it. "Here. Now go, I'll make your excuses to the kids, don't worry about anything. Text me if there's a problem."

* * *

An hour later, Dave drove up to the studio on his motorcycle, having left the car behind at home since the day's weather was favorable. He saw Alex's car parked there and entered quickly, his backpack on, carrying his helmet, and a shopping bag in one hand.

"Hello! Alex?" Dave questioned as he came up the stairs.

"Hello! Up here!" Anna called out.

As Dave came up the last of the stairs he saw Alex sitting on the couch, legs curled up under her, with a cup of tea held between both hands.

"I just made tea, the water's still hot in the kettle if you'd like some." She started to get up, but he waved her off.

"I've got it, you stay there." Dave went over to the kitchenette and set down the shopping back, pulling out a few things. He prepared himself a cup of tea before dropping his book bag off at his desk and moving to sit on the other side of the couch from Alex. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks to you." Alex smiled genuinely at Dave, then looked down into her cup of tea. "I'm sorry I freaked out a bit."

Dave shook his head, brushing it off. "Don't worry about it, really. I can't count the number of times I've started to have a panic attack in the past three years at the craziest things. The smallest thing would remind me of Rita and I'd be off hiding, sobbing like an idiot. But it's gotten better."

"For me too. That's why it was so surprising today. Hasn't jumped up on me like that in quite some time." She looked back to her tea for a moment as she thought, then looked back up at Dave as he gazed at her. "It gets better, but it'll never go away, will it?"

"I'd think not. I suppose it changes, doesn't it? Into a different sort of thing. The grief just changes. I don't know if I ever really want it to totally go away. I'd hate to forget all those years I had with Rita. It would be wrong. But it changes. I guess I feel more like I can actually live now than I did just after it happened. That it isn't wrong to have a life now, to be happy again."

Alex nodded with a small smile. "Yes, I know exactly what you mean."

Dave smiled back. "Yes, I think you do." He paused as they watched each other a moment, then made a further admission. "I rushed into a relationship too quickly after Rita died. It was unhealthy, born out of grief and the rise of passionate emotions that comes with it. It ended terribly but I know now it wasn't right. I wasn't ready."

Alex slowly nodded her head in understanding. "I tried an internet dating site a while after it happened. It was horrible. Thankfully nothing came of it."

Dave nodded back, waiting a moment before he then changed the subject. "So, what do you think of football?"

Alex smiled back. "I have some vague recollection of my brother playing soccer, our American equivalent, when he was in high school and I was just in elementary school. It was fun to watch again, and Paul is a great teacher, he gave me some tips to make sure I didn't look too foolish."

"Well, you were brilliant." Dave grinned then. "I'd say your cheering skills matched most of the parents there."

Alex blushed. "I didn't embarrass Ewan, did I?"

"Are you kidding me, he loves the attention!" Dave chuckled.

* * *

A half hour later, Dave was standing by the desk as he allowed Alex to sit at the computer and load up the work and research she had so far on their next two clients. Once she had everything loaded he pulled up a chair next to hers. They discussed various items, looking at prior photographs from their old websites, looking at layout options. At one point, Dave was trying to point out something in particular and leaned over to point to the screen, with Alex watching. As he finished, he turned to find he was much closer than he had realized, but felt unable to move as he looked closely at her face. A second later she realized the same and turned her face towards his with a shy smile and blush creeping into her cheeks. They were so close they could feel each other's breath as they searched out each other's eyes.

Alex felt her heart racing, her breathing was quickening—what was she doing? She turned back towards the screen. "So, that's that. We should schedule their photography as soon as you're able to."

Dave gulped and sat back in his chair, taking his cue from Alex. "Yes, right, of course. Why don't we set up a conference call for Monday morning to schedule something with the clients?"

"Right, sounds good." Alex was working with the computer mouse, closing programs she had used, and quickly finished up and pulled out the flash drive connected to Dave's computer.

As she stood, Dave did too, and they both looked at each other quickly, speaking on top of each other, "I'm sorry—" They both laughed nervously.

Dave continued first, "I'm sorry if I made it awkward."

"No, no, I'm sorry for that."

Dave chuckled again. "Sooo, just to be clear, we're both sorry for making it awkward. But—" He chanced taking a single step closer and smiled as he spoke quietly. "—If we're both sorry for making it awkward, should it really be awkward?"

"No," she responded quietly. "No, I guess not."

"Alright, then." It was then that Dave decided to go ahead and take his shot. "So, are you hungry? Tanya has the kids, willingly, for a few more hours. We could go out for a bite to eat, or get a carry out?"

* * *

Later that evening, Alex lay in bed reading a book. She was a few pages in when her phone beeped. She picked it up to see a text from Nathan.

 _Hey sis, how'd it go?_

A: _Except for a bit of an emotional breakdown by me, it went well._

N _You okay now?_

A: _Yeah, I'm fine. Dave was very supportive. He understands._

N: _Glad you have someone who understands and can be there for you. Don't be afraid to let him in._

A: _Are you giving me dating advice?_

N: _Danielle wants pictures._

Alex took a moment and pulled up a few pictures she had taken on her phone from the football match, including one of Dave and his whole family. She sent them over to Nathan and Danielle.

A moment later a new text popped up from her sister-in-law, Danielle. _C'mon girl, he's single, he's gorgeous, and he can legitimately understand your past. I know you don't want to be pushed, but don't let this one get away._

Alex rolled her eyes, then decided to give away a bit more information. She began typing again. _We had a work meeting this afternoon. Then we went to dinner, that felt distinctly non-work related._

 _You mean a date?_ Danielle quickly responded.

 _Well, we didn't discuss work the whole time?_ She frowned as she continued to type. _I don't know, Danielle. I feel almost like a teenager again, trying to figure out what dating even is._

 _It will become clear when it's supposed to. Night, sis._ Danielle ended her text, and Alex smiled.

Before she had a chance to put the phone back down, her brother texted again. By this point, Alex was certain they were probably sitting right next to each other reading off the texts to each other. _We're happy for you sis. Good night._

Alex smiled and put the phone back down on the side table. She had just began reading again when her phone beeped. She growled and grabbed the phone again, but quickly her expression turned into a smile.

It was Dave, _I had a good day today. Pretty sure it was the company._

She blushed, then rolled her eyes at herself. Yup, just like a teenager. She debated what to respond with, but kept it to one word to start. _Same_. Then she felt like an idiot for being so vague and typed more. _I really enjoyed the day, despite the emotional breakdown. Thanks for being so supportive. I really enjoyed spending time with your family. It was great going over work with you. And the non-work dinner afterwards wasn't so bad either._ There, this was his chance, maybe he would respond explaining he takes all his work partners to dinner, or he enjoyed their 'friendship' or—

 _Dinner was nice. It was nice -not- talking about work. And I'm sure this sounds horrible, but it was nice not talking about the kids either._

She stared at his response. Okay, no doors shut. She grinned and typed back. _You mean you are a person outside your work and fatherhood? I'm shocked. ;-)_

D: _:-) You didn't seem too shocked during dinner. It was great conversation. Maybe we can do it again sometime?_

A: _Maybe :-)_


	6. Chapter 6: Your Date?

A week had passed since Alex's first football experience, her first time at Dave's studio, and their not-work dinner. Alex felt no clearer on if it should be considered a date or not and wasn't sure why she was letting it bother her at all. Dave was good company, and she had enjoyed her time, why did it have to be complicated?

They had their conference calls, as planned, that following Monday and had scheduled to meet one client the next Monday morning, and the other Monday after lunch. The rest of the week went by without hearing anything from Dave. Alex was hustling to find new contacts and reach out to the ones she already had to gain more clients. She was pleased to get a few calls because of word-of-mouth recommendations from current clients. She worked a few shifts at The Brew that week, but she could see the end in sight. Soon she would be able to hang up her apron for good and consider her business completely self-sustaining.

So, here she was, back at Saturday again, except this one had something altogether different scheduled. She had received an invitation to the Glasgow Business Gala, a party for small business owners at a local five-star hotel restaurant. It was a classy black-tie event, and if you were invited it meant you were considered to be among the most successful in your field in the Glasgow area. Every year they chose five up-and-coming business owners that were shining and showing quick growth in their fields. After having only been in the country and in her business for just barely a year, Alex was chosen as one of the five. The day the invitation had arrived in the mail she had squealed and immediately called her brother to tell him. It was an honor to be invited, _and_ as a publicist it was great for business because she might be able to add more contacts to her potential client list.

It was a rare occurrence that Alex wore a dress, much less one as elegant as she wore this evening. She arrived, wearing a deep purple evening gown and strappy sandals (she still refused to wear high heels). She entered and was provided with a program of the evening's events, a card with her table number, her name was checked off a list and the toastmaster announced her name to the room. She was then directed towards a side room where photographs of each guest were being taken before they entered the dining area.

Much to her surprise, as she entered the room, she found Dave Tiler, in black suit and bowtie, behind the camera photographing a couple that had come in before her. There were several people ahead of her in line, so she stood and watched him secretly for a few minutes. An attendant stood at the front of the line, ensuring things proceeded smoothly. As the couple ahead of her moved away from the backdrop she stepped up.

Dave, whose head had been stationary at eye level with his camera, which was stationed on a tripod, had kept his focus through the lens for the last several guests. But as soon as Alex stepped into view, he popped his head up as he recognized the woman in front of him. He was frozen, he glanced over Alex's attire, trying not to gawk, but failing miserably.

"Mr. Tiler, is there a problem?" the attendant asked when she realized Alex hadn't moved as quickly as the rest.

Dave shook himself out of his trance. "No," he smiled at Alex and leaned back over his camera. "No problem at all."

Alex was hoping he hadn't caught her blushing in the photograph, but perhaps it would be mistaken for makeup.

Later, Alex was standing at a bar-height table with a glass of wine in her hand, watching and listening to the band on stage as they waited for the dinner seating. She noticed from the corner of her eye as someone came up to within a few feet behind her and stopped, watching her. Without looking away from the band, she smiled as she accused him, "I would tell you to take a picture because it would last longer, but you've already done that." She then turned towards him and couldn't help but reflect the beaming smile on his face.

"Alex." Dave shook his head as he allowed himself bravely to look back over her. "You look stunning."

She continued to grin as she gave him a slight curtsey, "Why thank you, sir." He approached her, and she reached out to tug lightly on his lapel. "You look rather dashing yourself."

"Where are you seated for dinner?" he asked, silently praying as he fiddled with the card in his pocket.

She opened the clutch bag which was attached to her wrist by a loop of fabric and pulled out her dinner card. "Table 20. You?"

He smiled wide. "Fate is in my favor, it seems." He pulled the card out of his pocket and placed it on the table in front of her. "Table 20."

She smiled genuinely then, relief washing over her, her shoulders visibly relaxed as she allowed herself to confide in him. "Oh, I'm so glad. These events make me so nervous. It will be nice to have a familiar face close by."

"I couldn't agree more. Shall we?" He picked his card back up then offered his arm and she looped hers around his elbow, allowing him to escort her to their table.

They were half way there when she glanced down and giggled. "Converse sneakers, really?"

He scoffed. "It was enough to have to wear a suit and bowtie, one's personality has to be allowed to have some free reign. And they are black, they match."

She grinned and pulled up slightly on her dress, raising the hem just enough to show her sandals. "I refuse to wear high heels, so I'm not better, I suppose."

He grinned back at her. "Oh yes, so rebellious, aren't we?" They arrived at their table and he found her name card and pulled the chair out for her. Noticing the name card by hers, he held his finger up to his lips, signaling her to stay quiet during his next sneaky course of action. He snatched up the card and casually walked around the table, glancing to find his several seats away. He looked around to see that no one was coming and quickly switched the name cards out. He brought his back around the table and sat down next to her with a triumphant grin. "You didn't mention you had been invited to the Glasgow Business Gala. Quite the to-do, impressive that you've made it on the invitation list so soon after moving here."

"You didn't mention you were invited, either," she noted, but before he could say anything else, a man came up to the table.

"Well, hello. I suppose this is my seat, here." An older, gray haired man sat down in the seat that Dave had switched name cards with. Dave grinned at Alex, and the older man directed his next comment to Dave. "Such a lovely date you have for this evening, sir."

Dave smiled and rested his arm on the back of Alex's seat. "Thank you, sir. However, Ms. Stanton received her own invitation to the Gala, I was just lucky enough to receive my own as well."

Alex leaned over close, feeling brave, and turned head away from the man's sight as she whispered into Dave's ear, "Your date, am I?"

She turned back to face forwards, and he mirrored her earlier position, turning towards her, leaning in close to her ear so no one else could hear or make out his words. She could feel his breath, leaving a tingling sensation along her neck, as he whispered, "Should have been. Had I been smart enough and brave enough to ask. But even as foolish as I am, fate looked down upon me and smiled, and here you are."

Her breath caught in her throat at his words, and she turned slightly towards him as he turned back to face forwards. Their faces were inches from each other, they locked eyes a moment, and she was sure now that nothing could hide the blushing in her cheeks. Here they were, back in almost the same position they had been a week ago.

After a moment, Dave turned towards the man across from them, willing himself towards some distraction from the woman next to him. "So, Mr. Finnegan, what is your line of work?"

He regretted his question quickly. But thankfully, they didn't have to discuss the excitement of accounting for too long before the rest of their tablemates arrived, and conversation turned to other topics.

One of the guests at the table asked Alex about her business, and Dave watched as her eyes lit up and she began explaining about her dream that was becoming reality. A business to help small businesses. She shared her continuing goal to help start-ups and minority run small businesses to succeed in what might otherwise be an unattainable marketplace, providing affordable but professional publicity work. He listened in awe and continued to wonder at his luck to have met this woman.

After dinner and several speeches, the evening ended, and Dave walked Alex out to her car. She unlocked and opened the door, but before she moved to sit down, Dave stood on the opposite side of the door and leaned his arms on the top. "I was wondering if I might correct my mistake—"

"What mistake is that?" She looked confused.

"The one where I didn't ask you to be my date tonight—I was thinking perhaps I could take you to dinner? Monday, after work?" he asked her hopefully.

She smiled now. "So, if I'm correct, we've had a work dinner, with your family; then an after-work but not-work dinner, and tonight a work-related dinner date that wasn't a date but should have been—and now this would be a real, actual date?" She smiled at him as she rattled off their last few dinner meetings.

He nodded a bit shyly but smiled as he rubbed his hand over his chin. "I believe your account of the situation is correct, yes. And yes, a real, actual date."

"Yes." She nodded.

"Yes to dinner?" His eyes lit up with hope.

Grinning, she replied, "Yes to dinner."

His smile grew wide. "Fantastic. I'll see you Monday morning."


	7. Chapter 7: Video Call

By midday on Monday, Dave was feeling outstanding about his work and personal relationships with Alex, as they were both developing at what he felt like was a good speed.

Their first client meeting that morning had gone well. He had gotten a lot of photo work done, and was amazed as he watched Alex work from her tablet, making design changes on the fly as they discussed the project. Now they sat in a pub, having a late lunch, with his camera hooked up to her tablet through an adapter she explained she had purchased online for an occasion such as this. It allowed them to view the pictures quickly on a larger screen, and she could download low-res versions of the photos to pull into her design mock-ups.

As they both paused from the work to take another bite and drink, Dave decided to lead the conversation away from work momentarily. "After our next meeting, I need to run home to be sure the kids are alright with Tanya. Can I pick you up from your place at 6 for dinner?"

"Sure, sounds good." She smiled a bit shyly and he met her gaze with a warmth in his eyes and smile that set her nerves at ease. "Any hints on what I should wear?"

"The weather is supposed to be nice tonight, I was going to offer you a ride on the motorcycle, if you're up for it. You mentioned it last Saturday at dinner. If so, then I'd say casual is fine. If that's okay with you."

"Let's see, last Saturday. That was the non-work dinner that wasn't quite a date, right?" She grinned.

He acted hurt, but transparent enough that she could see he was playing. "Are you mocking our relationship up to this point?"

She shook her head and chuckled, "Oh no, I'm mocking us, as two adults who have both managed well-established, healthy, long-term relationships in the past, who now can't seem to figure out what the heck a date is and if we should be on one."

He joined her in laughing at themselves. "I guess we have been a bit of a mess, haven't we?"

She nodded. "Yeah, but I guess we both deserve to be a bit of a mess at all this."

He still smiled, but became serious with her as he continued, "I do enjoy your company, Alex. I'm looking forward to our _date_ tonight." He emphasized the word 'date."

Suddenly there was a ringing sound from her bag, which was echoed with a beep from her tablet. She dug into her messenger bag and pulled out her phone and smiled at the screen. "Do you mind? It's a video call from my brother."

He nodded, "No, no, go ahead."

She pushed the 'accept' button from her tablet and the video call routed through from her phone to there. Her brother's face appeared on the screen. "Hi Nathan! What's going on?"

"Hey sis! We've just walked into Disney World and the boys wanted to Voice Call you to show you the castle—hold on a sec—" The camera view turned and she saw her two nephews, 12 and 16 years old, standing in front of the camera with the castle in the background. They both waved then ran up closer to the camera . "Look Aunt Lexi, the castle is lit up to be purple! We had to show you. It reminded us of you and Laney!" the younger of the two boys was excited to explain.

Dave watched Alex's face light up. "Aw boys, look at you both, you're growing up too fast, but still finding time to be sweet to your Aunt Lexi! Thanks so much for thinking of me! I hope you have a fabulous time!"

"Okay, Aunt Lex!" the older of the boys said as they waved goodbye.

The camera flipped back around, and this time Alex saw both Nathan and Danielle in the camera view. She grinned and spoke, "Hey, there's my brave sister-in-law, how's life with those three boys?"

'Oh, you know, as ridiculous as ever!" Danielle laughed. " I hope we didn't disturb your work, we hoped we'd catch you at lunch time."

"Oh yes, it's fine. We're on lunch break, Dave and I, in between meetings with two clients we're working with right now."

"Oh?" Danielle smiled wide. "Dave is there?"

Alex rolled her eyes, but then sighed and looked over at Dave who was watching with a humored look on his face. She nodded him over, "Come on, might as well come over here. Now is as good a time as any—" Dave slid out of his side of the booth and moved around to slide in next to her, coming into view on the video call.

"Hello there." he said brightly towards the two faces on the tablet.

"Dave! Hi! It's nice to meet you. We've heard alo—" Nathan coughed as Danielle elbowed him off camera. "—a little, about you from Lexi."

"Yes, nice to meet you as well. So, Disney World? My kids have begged me to take them to America and visit there for years."

"Dave, trust me—" Nathan pulled the phone closer to his face so only he was view, as if it made their conversation private, "just take all your money and go flush it down the toilet, it's about how it feels coming here. It goes that fast."

Alex burst out laughing and the camera suddenly jerked back and Danielle was glaring at her husband. "Oh Nathan, stop it, you know the kids love it, even now when they're older."

"I will _not_ take it back. The 'magic' in Magic Kingdom is how all that money just goes _poof_ and it's gone." Nathan shook his head.

"Oh, come on, bro, you know you love riding on Dumbo." Alex snickered.

Nathan glared at his sister. "Should I start sharing stories of our childhood trips to Disney with Dave?"

Alex jumped and slid the tablet closer to her. "Oh, look at that, I think it's time for us to get going, our meeting is coming up soon."

"Mmhmm, I thought so." Nathan shook his head, then smiled. "Alright, see you later, sis. Love you."

"Love you all too, hugs to you all. Bye!" She grinned and ended the call, then turned to Dave who was still sitting next to her, and found him staring at her smiling. "Sooo—sorry about that—didn't know they'd be calling."

"You're apologizing? You had known me less than a week and were subjected to meeting my wild children? I can handle a video call with your brother and his family." He smiled, then his eyebrow perked up. "Lexi?"

She sighed before continuing, "Yes,'Lexi.' It's what I was called as a kid, and then when my nephews were born and old enough to start talking they couldn't say Alex or Alexandra, it came out 'Lexi' so I became Lexi again in the family."

Dave smiled. "I like it."

She smiled back. "I don't hate it, but you definitely owe me a real first date before you even consider calling me Lex or Lexi."

"I can handle that deal."

"I thought so. Come on, we really do have a meeting to get to."


	8. Chapter 8: Date Night

Monday night at 5:57pm, the doorbell rang and Alex hustled out of her room wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, a purple sweater, and black boots. She was in the process of pulling her long brown wavy hair around to one shoulder and into a loose hairband, which she hoped would allow her to get a helmet on, but not have her hair flying all over the place in the wind.

She pulled open the door and came face to face with a bouquet full of various purple and white flowers. On hearing the door open, Dave's head came into view beside the flowers, a grin on his face.

"Oh my God, they're beautiful!" Alex practically bounced with excitement as he handed her the bouquet. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek quickly before turning and walking towards the kitchen with them. "Come on in! I'll just put them in a vase with some water and grab my jacket, then we'll be ready to go!" She turned back to watch him come in the door, walking backwards the rest of the way into the kitchen as she spoke with a smile on her face. "Thank you for the flowers, they're gorgeous!"

"Not as traditional as roses or anything, but they're all native to Scotland, and I knew the color would win you over." Dave smiled as he watched her excitedly arranging the flowers in a vase.

"Traditional can be boring, this is magnificent!" She finished and set the vase on the entry table, giving them one last touch before turning to smile at him as she spoke. "And now I'll see them when I come and go." She squeezed his arm. "They really are perfect, Dave. Thank you."

He returned the smile, genuinely relieved his first surprise had been such a success. "I'm thrilled you like them." He helped her put on her own black leather jacket. "Ready?"

She grabbed a small cross-body bag, quite a change from her typical messenger bag, and slipped it over her head and arm. "As I'll ever be! I have to be honest, I'm quite excited about the motorcycle ride."

"Really?" Dave said sarcastically and grinned as they stepped out of her flat. "I never would have guessed by the Tigger-like way you're bouncing around."

She giggled, "I know, I can't seem to help myself. Just seems to be happiness bubbling up. I'm feeling like a bit like a carefree teenager."

They had arrived at the street-side and he handed her a helmet and grinned. "Well then, let's stay out incredibly late and see if we can get into some trouble." He climbed onto the bike first, then she climbed on behind him. "Just hold onto my waist, and you'll be fine."

"Where are we going for dinner?" she questioned before he started the bike.

"Not telling. That's another surprise." He started the motorcycle and was careful to start off slow so that Alex could get used to the feel of the bike. Before long he was going at normal speed and she was holding on firmly. At a stoplight, he turned his head slightly. "How are you back there?"

She laughed out loud as she exclaimed, "Fantastic!" She leaned into him and let out another laugh and he shook his head with a grin.

Not too much later he found a parking spot on the street not too far from the restaurant he intended to take her to. They got off the motorcycle and he locked their helmets onto it before they walked down the pavement. She was looking around curiously, trying to figure out which place he was taking her, as there were several restaurants in a row. He took a deep breath, hoping again he had judged her correctly as he stopped as the corner of an intersection.

"Here we are!" He turned and looked towards the restaurant in front of them.

As she turned and looked at the restaurant, her smile grew even wider. "You brought be to a burger joint!"

His left eyebrow raised at her American phrase, but he smiled too. "Well, I thought after your conversation with your family this morning, and I thought maybe you would like a taste of home. This place has the best burgers in Glasgow. Is this okay?"

She turned to him, grabbing his hand in hers and squeezing, Hoping she could communicate just how happy she was. "Okay!? Are you kidding me? This is—it's amazing—You. Are. Amazing." She turned back to the restaurant. "This might be the sweetest thing anyone has done for me since I moved to Scotland! I could _kill_ for a cheeseburger and fries—er, I mean, chips!"

He chuckled, relieved he had made another right decision this evening. "No need for killing, I'm fairly certain the butchering has already been taken care of. Come on, let's get you that cheeseburger."

A half-hour later, they were sitting at a two-person table by the window, and their food had been brought to them moments before. Alex took the first bite of her burger while Dave watched and she practically moaned in response to the flavor while his eyebrow slowly raised in response. She finished covered her mouth as she spoke through her food, "I didn't think it could possibly taste better than it looked." She smiled and continued chewing and he dug into his own food. She finished chewing, swallowed and smiled as she questioned, "How are you possibly going to beat this on our second date?"

He finished his own bite and took a sip from his beer bottle before speaking again, "Oh, so I've earned a second date?"

She grinned back at him. "Oh yes."

He pulled at his ear and shook his head. "I don't know if I'm prepared to have done so well so quickly. The expectations are so high now! What if I crash and burn midway through the date? I hope you don't take it back before the night is over!"

They looked at each other and both burst out laughing. "Oh come on," she said. "Don't be so hard on yourself. If things start to go bad, just order me dessert and I'm sure we'll be fine," she finished her statement, punctuating it with a wink.

They continued conversation for almost another half hour, with most of the conversation being about their own childhood and families. Dave's parents had both died several years before. Alex explained that her mother had passed away shortly before the accident that took John, Laney, and Blake from her. For a moment, she seemed to travel far away in her mind, staring at the liquid in the bottle she tilted back and forth in her hand.

"And your father?" Dave leaned in to try and catch her gaze, hoping to capture her back from where her mind had gone.

She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "He's ill. He lives in a nursing home. Had had some health problems before, but then after mom died, it went downhill quickly. Dementia has set in. Some days he won't eat. He barely remembers anyone. Nathan says it won't be long now."

Dave reached across the table, resting his hand atop hers as it held the bottle she had sat back on the table. "You miss him, don't you?"

"This sounds horrible, but I miss the him that was around before my mom died." She shook her head. "What's left isn't as much him anymore."

Dave spoke quietly now, "What will you do-when he dies?"

She shrugged and took another deep breath, but as she spoke, she continued to look down at the table, fiddling with her napkin in her free hand. "I'll drop everything and fly home. There will be a lot of work to take care of his will, his property. We've tried to take care of as much as we can beforehand, but my brother is so busy with his own job. I can't leave him to do it all on his own. He's done so much already, since I've been gone." She finally looked up at him. "I've no idea how long I'll have to be gone."

"How do you feel about going back to America?" he asked as he leaned back in his chair, still holding onto her hand and rubbing his thumb against her knuckles.

"Terribly, terribly anxious. If I'm honest, coming to Scotland was as much to fulfill a dream as it was to run away from my past and start a new life. You've probably guessed that. Going back now, it feels like I'd be stepping back in time to when the accident happened."

Dave nodded slowly and watched her, allowing silence to settle over their table for a few moments. All the platitudes that came to him to say didn't seem to be enough. He had heard so many of them after losing Rita. "I'm here, if—when—you need to talk. And whenever it happens, when you get that call, I hope you'll let me be here for you then too."

"I think I shall," she said quietly, with a smile. Then her attention shifted away, shyly, towards the glass bottle again. "Do you ever—worry—does it ever scare you—to think about getting into a relationship with someone again?" She looked back up at him as she finished the sentence, hoping to find some sort of confirmation there in his reaction.

He nodded and smiled. "I find it terrifying and exhilarating." He leaned forward, resting his hand overtop hers again, this time as it picked at wood grain of the table they sat at. "But I can't help but believe it's worth it. I hope you aren't questioning a second date?"

"No, not at all." She shook her head and took a deep breath. "I just question if this tendency towards brutal honesty I seem to have with you is going to screw this up. I'm not usually so open anymore." She shrugged. "I just don't share about the past, about my dad, about my loss. But I can't seem to help myself around you. Everything just spills out."

He took a relieved breath and glanced up at the ceiling, finding the correct words as he began to speak. "I find your honesty refreshing, Alex. I—" He grew serious as he considered his past. "I told you I was in a relationship after Rita. It was built on some deception and secrets, and it ended up being the ending of it. Even my relationship with Rita, as much as we loved each other, there were some secrets she kept from me that ended up coming out after she was gone. It was almost the undoing of me and my family. You, your honesty, your willingness to be vulnerable and tell me what you are honestly thinking—it's one of the things I lo—," he caught himself and corrected quickly, "I find most attractive about you."

"Alright then." She smiled, and the mood seemed to lighten immediately. "Brutal honesty it is. And you'll return me the favor? Like you just did. I don't want you to be afraid to share about your past, either."

"Deal." He said with a returned smile. "Now, how about a ride around the city before I take you home?"


	9. Chapter 9: Racing Champion

The next two months moved quickly for Dave and Alex. She quickly became a part of their weekly family dinners with the Tilers and Robin and Anna. When Tanya and Sam joined them as well, they ended up having to set up a table for the younger kids and spread out a bit more. Alex went to several more of Ewan's football matches.

Date night also became a weekly occurrence. If the weather was good, Dave would pick Alex up on his motorcycle. Otherwise, he'd drive the car and pick her up.

Just a few weeks in, they celebrated Alex's last shift at The Brew as she finally took on her business full time. She was gaining clients on a consistent basis and the steady income of taking on the new clients as well as maintaining her current client base was enough.

It was a Thursday night, regular family dinner night at the Tiler house, when things went a bit different.

"Tanya, I have an evening engagement photo session next Tuesday and Lucy has a sleepover. I need you to watch the kids, if you can?" Dave asked as he spooned out potatoes onto his plate.

Tanya stared at him a moment. "Tuesday? I can't. You know I have a thing."

"A thing? What thing?" Dave questioned.

"The nature photography club, Dad!" she exclaimed, upset her dad had forgotten.

His head rolled back and he groaned. "Oh, yeah." His head rolled back forward and he rubbed his temples before looking up at Anna.

Anna shook her head as she responded, "Don't look at us, Robin has a work function we have to attend."

He sighed. "I'm just going to have to reschedule."

Alex had been watching the interaction. "No you don't. I'll watch the kids."

Everybody stopped in mid bite, some with forks halfway to their mouths. Dave shook his head. "I can't ask you to do that."

"You aren't asking, I'm offering." She shrugged again. "I'll watch the kids. We'll have a good time."

Dave looked wary. He would trust Alex implicitly with his children, but he didn't want to push the responsibility of babysitting off on her. He was interrupted by Evie before he could say anything else.

"Come on, Dad! Let Alex come over! We'll have so much fun!" she begged.

Dave looked between his daughter and Alex. "It'll only be a few hours. You're sure?"

"Positive. Next Tuesday night." Alex grinned as she took another quick bite then spoke again, "I'll bring pizza for dinner, and a few other surprises. We'll have a blast, won't we guys?" She smiled towards the kids who all pumped their fists with exclamations of "Yes!"

Tuesday came and Alex rang the doorbell on the Tiler home using her elbow, as her hands were full. Paul came to the door and let her. He grinned and looked at the things she carried. "Alex, you're here! Did you bring it?"

Alex grinned and showed the pizzas she had balanced in one hand, and the bag she held in the other. "Pizza and a Nintendo Wii. Let the Mario Kart competition begin!"

Paul continued to smile. "You are going down!"

"Oh!? We'll see about that!" she shot back as they walked into the kitchen and she set the pizzas down.

Dave came hopping quickly down the stairs, zipping up his camera bag as he moved. He planted a quick peck on her cheek. "I've got to get going, the client called a few minutes ago and said they had to move up the time of their date and I've got to be in hidden place to catch the surprise proposal. Save me a few pieces and I'll eat when I get back."

Alex noticed Paul had gone back upstairs to get his siblings down for dinner, so she leaned in and quickly placed a kiss on Dave's lips. She grinned up at him, enjoying the glint in his eyes when she surprised him. It had been a few weeks into dating before they had taken the chance at a first kiss, and they continued to move slow, having only shared a few more since then. "Enjoy playing private investigator, with your sneaky photo shoot. I can't wait to hear about it afterwards."

Dave gathered the rest of the belongings he needed to take along and started to open the front door, turning first to yell up the stairs. "Kids, behave for Alex! See you in a few hours." Turning back towards the door, he winked at Alex, who had leaned against the kitchen doorway, watching him. She waved bye and he closed the door. It wasn't lost on him that his house was beginning to feel more like home when Alex was in it than when she wasn't. He allowed himself to reflected on that further as he drove towards the Botanical Gardens.

Three hours later he pulled back up to his home and parked. As he approached the front of his house, he heard shouting from inside.

"Oh no you don't! Get back here!" he heard Alex shout.

"Catch me if you can, loser!" Ewan shouted back.

A moment of panic struck through him as he quickly opened the door and stepped inside—to find his youngest son and his girlfriend standing in front of the TV bouncing up and down, each holding a racing wheel. Paul and Evie were on the couch, cheering. Paul was, of course, cheering for Ewan. Evie would never hear for cheering for anyone but Alex. He shook his head and watched from the doorway. There was so much noise an activity no one had even noticed him come in the door.

At the last minute, it seemed that Alex caught up and overtook Ewan as the race ended and she let out a shout, "Hah! Gotcha!"

She started to do a dance and Evie hopped up to join her. Doing a spin and seeing her father, she stopped. "Daddy!" The girl ran over and gave him a hug around his waist.

Both boys were groaning, Ewan especially, "I can't believe you won."

"What has she won?" Dave asked with a chuckle as he looked between Alex who had a proud smile, and his two boys who looked utterly defeated.

"You are looking at the first champion of the Tiler House Mario Kart Racing Competition." Alex grinned again.

Dave shook his head again, in humored disbelief. "Well, boys, next time I'll be participating and she'll be taken down quickly."

Alex's left eyebrow raised. "Oh, is that so? We'll see about that, Mr. Tiler."

"Okay kids, time for bed. Go get ready and I'll be up to wish you good night in a bit. I'll read to you then, Evie." Dave nodded in the direction of the upstairs.

"Daddy, can Alex read to me tonight?" Evie looked up at her father with sweet eyes.

Dave's eyes widened and he glanced at Alex, who looked as if her heart might burst. She looked back at Dave and gave a small quick nod. "Sure, sweetie, if that's what you want."

"Dad, we really like Alex." Paul said pointedly to his father as they sat talking quietly in the boys' room.

Dave was sitting at the end of Paul's bed, legs stretched out in front of him across the bed, his back and head leaning against the wall.

Dave grinned. "Even though she beat you at Mario Kart?"

" _Because_ she beat us at Mario Kart," Ewan said from across the room where he lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling where glow-in-the-dark stars were stuck to the ceiling. "She's amazing."

Dave thought it funny that his boys were expressing similar thoughts that he was, just in their own juvenile way. "She is something, isn't she?" He smiled as he remembered the scene he had walked in on that evening.

"We just wanted you to know, Dad. We _really_ like her. You know, in case you want to marry her or anything," Paul spoke seriously.

Dave gulped, his eyes growing wide in the dark. Thankful the boys couldn't see his face. "It's only been a few months since we _met_ Alex, Paul."

"Is there some sort of official timeline you have to follow? How long do you have to know her for? I mean, how much more do you have to know before it's okay?" his eldest son continued to question him.

"I don't know." Dave shrugged, though the boys couldn't see him. "It's different for everyone. Have you two really been thinking this seriously about this?"

"You're happy dad. The happiest we've seen you since Mum was alive. It's not just us, Evie and Lucy think so too." it was Ewan who spoke heartfelt truth this time.

Dave wiped his eyes. Blimey, his kids were amazing. "So you're all equally in love with her, huh?"

"You love her, don't you dad? You should be sure to tell her. Girls like that stuff." Paul whispered as he started to grow drowsy.

Dave sighed quietly and looked up at the ceiling, watching the fake stars for a moment before sliding himself off the bed. "Good night boys."

"G'night Dad."

"Night."

He quietly closed the door, standing outside it and wiping his eyes again before silently moving towards Evie's room. The door was cracked open and he could hear Alex's voice from inside. He peeked in and watched as she finished up the storybook she had been reading.

"The Prince married the Princess and lived happily ever after." Alex closed the storybook and brushed Evie's hair out of her face.

"Alex, do fairytales like that really happen?" Evie whispered.

Dave watched as Alex stared down at the girl. She was smiling, but Dave could see a mix of emotions in her eyes. She glanced up towards the door and caught him watching her. She looked into his eyes, and responded to the girl as she kept her eyes on him. "You know, Evie, at one time I might have wondered. But now, I'm quite sure they do." She turned her gaze back to the young girl and smiled sweetly at her. "Good night, Evie. Sweet dreams." Dave watched as Alex leaned down and kissed the girl on the forehead, then tucked her covers up around her. He backed away from the door as she approached, slipped out and reached in to turn the light off before closing the door.

When she turned, Dave was standing there watching her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him quickly, embracing her in a tight hug. She couldn't have had any idea the conversation he had just had with his boys, but hearing her honest response to his daughter was enough to send his heart into overload. He tilted his head down and met her lips in a passionate kiss before she could argue. A few minutes later, they broke the kiss, both panting heavily. Without realizing it, he had backed her up against the wall by the stairwell. She looked up into his eyes, tears at the edge of her eyes, and he realized a few were already tracing down his own face.

Through his own rapid heartbeat and breathing, he whispered. "I love you, Alexandra Stanton."

Her eyes closed, she allowed the words to wash over her and through her a moment. "I love _you_ , Dave Tiler."

An hour and a half later, Dave Tiler lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His phone vibrated next to him and he reached over without looking and picked it up, moving the screen into his field of vision. A smile came across his face.

 _Am I dreaming?_

He quickly typed back. _I was just thinking the same thing. I don't think shared dreams exist. So we must both be awake._

A quick response came back. _This has really happened?_

He waited a moment, his finger tapping the side of his phone as he formulated his response. _If you mean, have I fallen love with the most amazing American-born woman in Scotland, I believe it really is happening, yes._

 _How many American-born women are there in Scotland, do you think?_

He grinned and rolled his eyes. _You know what I meant._

 _Yes. :) Goodnight_

 _Goodnight._


	10. Chapter 10: You Will Be Back

It was seven the next morning when Dave was woken up by the doorbell ringing repeatedly, then a banging at the door. He jumped out of bed, wearing only pajama pants, and ran downstairs. His heart was already racing, and then when he opened the door, it seemed to suddenly seize up. Standing in front of him was the woman he had just the night before professed his love to—tears falling fast from her eyes, a gut wrenching sob escaping her lips when she saw him. She fell into his arms before he could say a word.

He had gone from dead asleep to wide awake in a matter of moments. His mind was already racing, and he had only one guess as to what this was about, but he asked anyway, to confirm. "Shh, now, what's happened?"

"He's gone. He's died. My dad is gone," she gasped out between sobs. "My brother called an hour ago. It's the middle of the night there."

She broke down again and he hugged her close a moment. "Shh now, come on, let's sit down on the sofa." He directed her out of the doorway and closed the door. As they turned towards the living room, Dave glanced up and saw his three youngest children standing at the top of the stairwell, all half asleep but deeply concerned. He shook his head and pointed them back towards their rooms without a word. Paul nodded and put an arm around his younger brother and sister and turned them back towards their beds. Dave sat Alex down on the couch, grabbed the box of tissues from the coffee table and handed them to her, then knelt in front of her. "I'm just going to go put the kettle on for some tea. I'll be right back, okay?" She nodded quickly and he quickly stood up and moved to the kitchen. He came back a few minutes later with a cup of hot tea for each of them. He sat down next to her, leg tucked up under himself so he could sit as close as possible, facing her. He set their cups down on the table in front of the couch and placed his arm around her shoulder. He finally looked down beyond her face and saw that she was still in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt, with her coat on top. He brushed the hair out of her face and cupped her cheek, turning her face towards him. "Talk to me, Alex."

"The nurse went into do her midnight check and he wasn't breathing. He's gone." She took a tissue and rubbed at her eyes. She seemed to calm down as the crying subsided, but when she looked back up at him, he saw what he could best describe as a look of terror. "I have to go back there!"

He then moved his other hand to her other cheek, trying to help her focus on him as he spoke firmly, "Alex, look at me—" Her eyes were downcast, darting back and forth between objects that weren't there. He could tell she was starting to panic as her breathing started to get faster. "Look at me, Lex. Look at me." The use of her nickname from him for the first time gained her attention. She looked up into his eyes. "You've. Got. This. You are the strongest person I know. You are not alone. Your brother will be there. Your sister-in-law. Your nephews. And I'm here for you. You can call me anytime, day or night. You'll get through this. I promise." She nodded and he pulled her into a hug, holding her close till her breathing calmed again. He then pulled her back and looked at her again. "May I see your phone, please?"

She looked at him questioningly as she reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled her phone out.

"I'm taking down your brother's number. I'm going to call him and help you start making your flight arrangements. Okay?" She nodded again. "Alright, here—" He handed her tea mug to her. "Start drinking this. Are you up to some cuddles from the kids? They're up and terribly worried by now, I'm sure." She took a sip from the tea and nodded again. "Alright. I'm going to get them, then get the cereal and milk ready while they spend some time with you. We'll have everything sorted soon."

He sighed and pulled her in again for another hug, kissing her forehead and squeezing her tight before releasing her and hopping off the couch, bounding up the stairs. He found all three of the kids in the boys' room, sitting on the bed, waiting to hear from their dad what was going on. He stepped in and closed the door quietly. A few minutes later, the kids ran down ahead of him and into the living room, all piling in around Alex and hugging her.

* * *

"Hello, Nathan? This is Dave Tiler. Yes— I'm very sorry to hear about your father.— Yes, she's here at my house. She came over quite upset— You're right, it's going to be quite difficult, for all of you, I'm sure—Yes, she told me— I'd like to help her make her travel arrangements, what airport should she— Okay, yes—" Dave scribbled down notes on a piece of paper as he listened. In between notes he was pulling down a few boxes of cereal and pulled the milk out of the refrigerator. "Yes, I do—oh… well—" Dave paused and listened a moment, taking a deep breath and swallowed hard. "Yes, I am. I'll keep that in mind, thank you. I'm not sure if I could arrange it, but I'll see. Okay, I'll speak to you later. You can call me on this number anytime if you or the family need anything. Bye."

Dave lowered the phone and stared at it a moment, then grabbed the scrap of paper and walked towards the living room. "Kids, cereal is in the kitchen. Paul, make Alex a bowl too. You can eat in here and watch cartoons this morning. I'll be down in a bit." He then turned and jogged up the stairs, dialing another number as he approached his bedroom. "Hello Robin. Something's happened—" He stepped into his bedroom and shut the door.

A half hour later, Dave came down, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and found Evie cuddled up with Alex on the couch. Alex turned her face towards him when she heard him coming down the stairs and gave him a faint smile. He went to the kitchen and made himself a bowl of cereal and came in to sit on the other side of Alex. The boys both sat in front of the couch, their cereal bowls now empty and sitting on the coffee table. They sat in quiet, while the children watched cartoons and occasionally laughed from the children. After finishing his bowl Dave added his to the stack on the coffee table. "Alright, time to get ready for school, kids"

After a couple minutes Paul had taken the dishes to the kitchen sink and they were headed up stairs to get dressed for school. As soon as he saw that they were upstairs, Dave used the remote to turn the TV off and leaned back against the sofa, taking Alex's hand in his. "I've arranged for your plane ticket." She drew a deep breath in and turned to him, her eyes were rimmed with tears again. "Hey," he cupped her right cheek with his hand again, stroking it gently with his thumb. "You're going to be fine. Your brother will be at the airport waiting for you when you arrive."

"When do I leave?" she whispered as she let out the breath she had held in.

"6:55 tomorrow morning. I'll take you to the airport, Anna is going to come and be sure the kids get to school in the morning. I think you should ride with me to get the kids to school, then we'll go over to your place, so you can have a shower and dressed, and start packing. I want you to leave me a copy of your schedule for the next few weeks. I'll contact the clients and see to it that they understand what's going on. If something urgent comes up, I'll contact you and we'll make arrangements about how to handle it."

"I'm taking my computer and tablet with me, so I can work from there," she said.

He nodded and gave her a moment before approaching the subject he was thinking about. "I know you're upset about your dad. But it's more than that—you're really scared about going home, aren't you?"

Her tears began falling again and the words began to pour out of her, "Yes, I'm scared! I'm scared of going back there after the past year and a half. I'm scared of going back to the place where I lost everything. I'm scared that if I go, I won't be able to come back. I know that sounds crazy, but I'm so scared that somehow, something is going to keep me from getting back here. This is my home now. I'm scared if I leave, I'll lose everything—I'm scared I'll lose you."

Dave took a deep breath and lifted her chin so that she would look into his eyes. "Alexandra Stanton, do not think for a moment that I wouldn't swim across that ocean if it's what it took to get you back here to us. You are coming back. You will be back home, and we will be here waiting for you."


	11. Chapter 11: Preparations

The next morning, Dave sat next to Alex on a bench by the check-in area airport. Soon she would head back to through customs and security and await boarding.

* * *

The day before, he had gotten her home after dropping the kids off at school. He helped out with a few things around her flat while she took a hot shower and got dressed.

When she stepped out of her bedroom, the anxiety that had overwhelmed her that morning had eased off and the 'fog' that had overwhelmed her brain was clearing. She quietly watched as Dave finished pouring two mugs of tea and then slid up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, leaning her head against his back. "I'm so lucky to have you."

He smiled at her affection. Having jumped too fast into physical intimacy in his last relationship, he was cautious to go too fast with Alex, which worked well for her, as she was equally nervous. They had slowly become more comfortable with showing physical affection towards each other. This particular act was new, though, and he found it enjoyable to feel her warmth against him. He wrapped his arms over the top of hers, leaning slightly into her. "Hmm, the feeling is mutual, I assure you."

She sighed and mumbled into his back, "Yes, but you aren't the one falling apart and requiring special care."

"Well—" He turned around in her embrace to face her and smiled down at her. "I'll arrange something for when you return from America, okay? Then you can return the favor."

"Oh, really now?" She grinned. "Going to schedule a mental breakdown, are you? I'm quite sure that's not how it works."

"Well I am sure of one thing." He sighed. "I've grown accustomed to having you around, Lex. I'm going to miss you."

She rested her cheek against his chest, listening to his heart beat. He bent down, taking in the smell of her hair, trying to memorize everything he could about the way she smelled and felt in his arms while he had time to. "I'll try not to be gone too long," she said.

"Take all the time you need with your brother and his family," he spoke into her hair. "We'll be here waiting when you get back."

She looked back up into his eyes. "I love it when you say that."

"It's true," he said. "The kids are going to be a mess while you're gone."

She grinned and tightened her embrace. "Just the kids?"

He rolled his eyes at her for her joke, but then smiled back. "I'm glad to see you smile."

"Me too."

* * *

That afternoon, Dave and Alex sat at his dining room table with laptops in front of them. He helped her determine what phone calls needed to be made, and after she attempted one phone call and barely made it through without breaking down, he made her let him live up to his promise and he took care of the rest of the calls while she went through her schedule and took some notes. An hour in, and she held her head in her hands and rubbed her temples as he finished the last phone call. As soon as he hung up, she said, "I. Am. Exhausted. And we've barely been working an hour."

"That's the last phone call. We've rearranged everything. As soon as we know you're on your way back we'll get the meetings rescheduled." He looked down at his watch. "I'd say it's time to rest, but the kids will be running in the door any minute—"

As if on cue the front door swung open and Lucy came running in, looking around quickly. Alex and Dave both stood just as she turned and saw them. She had gotten word from her dad that morning at her friend's house about what happened. She came running in and wrapped her arms around Alex's neck, giving her a big hug. "Alex! I'm so sorry!"

"Oh, sweet girl. Thank you." Alex returned the teenage girl's hug, looking up over her shoulder and smiling at Dave who was watching with a smile on his face.

* * *

Thursday night family dinner at the Tiler's was moved to Wednesday so that Alex would have one more before she left the next morning. Robin and Anna joined them as usual and everyone did their best to keep Alex in good spirits. Dave was first to notice that there were a few times when she was getting misty eyed as she looked around the table and tried to keep a firm grip on her free hand, giving it a gentle squeeze occasionally to ground her and remind her of his promise.

* * *

"It's time, Lex. You need to be getting through customs and through to your gate." He squeezed her hand and stood up, pulling her up, straight into his embrace. He leaned over, resting his forehead against hers. "I'll see you soon, okay? Just a few weeks, it will fly by and you'll be back here in my arms, okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I know." She took a deep breath and straightened, and a genuine smile spread across his face. "Yeah, I'm going to be okay."

He smiled back, happy because he could tell she was beginning to believe it. He brushed his hand through her hair, and rested it at the nape of her neck. "You're going to be more than okay." He leaned in and their lips met, for a long but gentle kiss. "I love you." He gave her one more quick peck.

"I love you too." They let go of each other and she smiled one more time and began to back away, waiting till she was several more feet away before turning her back to him and walking towards the security check. He waited till she was out of sight and let out a sigh, swallowing hard and wiping away his own tears as he turned and walked away.


	12. Chapter 12: Missing You

_Feet on the ground in the US! I'll call you once I'm settled in at my brother's._

Dave smiled as he looked at the text. Thirteen hours later and she had finally arrived at her destination. _Glad you made it safely. Talk to you soon._

* * *

Alex turned the corner from the international gate and made it into the hallway that would take her to the public area of the airport. She spotted her brother immediately because of his height and went into a full run. She was caught up in a hug as he lifted her off the ground and spun her around.

* * *

"Why is it that distance makes it so much harder? I just saw you this morning, but it feels like it's been days," Alex said as she lay on the bed in her guest room at her brother's house. It was late afternoon in North Carolina and she had excused herself to make her call before she went out to dinner with her brother's family.

Dave adjusted his head on his own pillow as he held the phone so that he could still see her and be seen. He had gone upstairs to his bedroom to hide from the kids for long enough to talk privately with Alex before releasing the kids on her, via video call. "I don't know. But it is different, isn't it? I guess it's the knowing that you aren't just a few minutes away. I'm sure the long flight doesn't help you. What are your plans for the night?"

"We're going out for dinner in an hour. I'm hoping it doesn't take me long to adjust to the time difference. I'll probably end up going to bed early tonight to make up for it. In the morning we go to the funeral home to finalize arrangements."

"What's the tentative plan?" Dave questioned.

"We're hoping to have the service on Monday night, at his church. Then we'd drive the four hours back to our hometown for the burial on Tuesday," she replied.

Dave nodded. "How are you doing?"

She shrugged, looking off in the distance a moment, then back at the face on the screen. "You were right. It's not so bad with Nathan here." She then smiled. "Everyone asked about you."

"Oh?" He smiled back. "How are the boys?"

She chuckled under her breath. "They hoped I'd bring them kilts. Nathan was mortified. We'll have to find some when I get back and ship them over."

He moved his free arm up under his head to help cushion it. "Maybe they could come and visit sometime?"

She smiled. "That _would_ be fun. I think the kids would get along."

He nodded. "I think so too." They were quiet a moment, and her eyes shifted from the screen to look around the room. He continued to watch her, and broke the silence a moment later. "I miss you."

She looked back at him. "I miss you too. But I can feel you here with me. Does that sound weird? It sounds weird doesn't it." She paused. "I wish you _were_ here with me."

He hesitated a moment, but before he could say anything else, there was a banging at his door.

"Dad! We want to talk to Alex, too!" Paul yelled through the door.

Alex grinned wide. "It sounds like my fans are calling."

He shook his head in annoyance at the interruption. "Yes, but are you ready for them?"

"Ready as I'll ever be, unleash the crazy." She giggled.

"Alright!" Dave yelled towards the door. "You can come in now!"

It sounded like a herd of cattle coming in, then suddenly faces started popping up around Dave's on the screen as his kids all piled onto the bed with him.

"Alex!"

"Hi, Alex!"

"Hiya, kiddos! Are you behaving for your dad?"

"Not really. Besides, it's better that we keep him on his toes, so he doesn't mope around and miss you," said Lucy with a grin.

* * *

The rest of the weekend had flown by for Alex. Not that she hadn't missed Dave terribly, even with their video calls and messaging. Just as planned, when she and her brother went to the funeral home on Friday, service arrangements were made for Monday evening.

Her brother had been taking calls on and off from work through the weekend, as he had taken time off since Wednesday and was having to direct his co-workers and employees on how to handle things without him. On Sunday it seemed to be particularly busy as he took a few calls that must have been important as he stepped out of earshot, usually into his bedroom, for.

She and Dave had decided to communicate via text on Sunday evening (afternoon for her) and Dave had let her know then that he'd be busy with clients all day Monday. After a little back and forth before he fell asleep, she drifted off as well.

The next day she kept busy with the boys most of the morning. They had lunch at the house, from all the food that had been brought by the members of the congregation of the church her father had attended when he was still in good health. After clearing the table and washing the dishes, they argued over what board game to play and settled on Monopoly. Then, they began to set up to begin the game. Her brother had left the house just after eating to run into his work to pick up a few things. It was just after three when her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Hello." she said.

Hello!" Dave cheerily replied. "Hope I'm not catching you at a bad time."

"No, just about to give my nephews a beating at Monopoly." She grinned and both boys started booing at her. She continued to talk as she heard the door that led from the garage into the kitchen open behind her. "As you can hear, they're not too happy about it."

Suddenly, her nephews grew quiet. She raised her eyebrow at them. Then, she heard a voice—behind her and over the phone, "You sound quite confident. And I came all this way thinking you might need some comforting."

She froze, staring at her nephews whose mouths were both hanging open looking behind her. Slowly she lowered the phone from her ear as she rose from her chair. She was almost afraid to look behind her, thinking she must be dreaming—but slowly, she turned.

There, standing next to her brother, who had the wide grin of a cat who had just caught a mouse, was Dave—backpack slung over one shoulder, held in balance by his hand gripping the strap; the other hand holding a large duffel bag.

Alex's sister-in-law slipped into the room from upstairs, having heard the car arrive. Everyone was quiet as they stared at each other a moment. Dave let the duffel bag drop out of his hand, and allowed the backpack to slide off his shoulder and dropped it more gently to the floor. He held his arms out slightly, palms up, presenting himself to her. "Surprise!"


	13. Chapter 13: In Memoriam

"How did you do it? I can't believe you're really here! You came all this way for me? What about the kids?" Questions were pouring out of her, and Dave settled in, arms wrapped around her waist, his legs spread just a bit apart so that he was closer to her height and could look at her eye-to-eye. He just smiled as she continued questioning. "How could you possibly afford the plane ticket? What about your clients?"

They stood on the back deck of her brother's house. Danielle had sent the boys up to start getting washed up and ready for the funeral service and had gone up to begin getting ready herself. Nathan took Dave's bags up to their second guest room and went to his and Danielle's room, hoping to give the couple some time to get through their reunion.

She paused for breath and just stared at him. He smiled wide at her and finally responded, "I can't take full credit for the idea. Your brother mentioned it when I called on Wednesday to help make your travel plans. I wasn't sure if I should, but by Saturday, I was miserable, and Anna insisted I should consider getting here by today so I could be with you for the service. Anna and Robin are staying at the house, taking care of the kids. I have some money saved up, Robin helped me invest after the settlement. I called the clients I had scheduled and explained there was a family emergency—I rescheduled everything for next week. I'm here, with you, for you, for the week."

She smiled, moving her hands from his shoulders to cup his cheeks. "I can't believe you're really here."

He mirrored her movement, and whispered, "I told you I'd swim the ocean for you—hopping on a plane was easy." He moved closer, gently kissed her then rested his forehead against hers, and took a deep breath. "God, I've missed you."

"I've missed you. We should get ready for the service." Another smile came across her face. "I'm so glad you're going to be there with me."

* * *

It didn't take long for Alex to get into the simple black trousers and top she planned to wear for the funeral. She pulled her hair up into a simple ponytail and was back downstairs, sitting with Nathan in rocking chairs on the front porch, waiting for everyone else to come down.

Alex looked towards her brother and smiled. "So, I understand I have you to thank for Dave being here."

Nathan shrugged. "I merely told him he would be welcome in our home should he be able to join you. You've gone through a lot, sis. You deserve to have someone here to walk this road with you."

They were quiet again for a moment, as Alex leaned her head back against the rocker and looked out as the sun began to set. "I feel guilty for feeling so happy today."

"You think Dad would want you sad and depressed today? You know, I printed one of those pictures you had sent Danielle a month ago. It was one of you and him with the kids around you. I put it in his room with our family picture. I told him all about Dave and his family."

Alex was genuinely touched her brother had thought to do that. "Really, you did that?"

"You looked so happy, Lexi. I wanted him to see you happy." Her brother paused a moment, then continued, "He smiled. He was happy for you, and so are we."

"Thanks, bro," she said just as the door opened and the boys came out with Dave following them, discussing Paul and Ewan's favorite video games. Alex smiled as she watched Dave naturally conversing with her Jeremy and Kyle.

Jeremy, the older of the two, turned to his dad. "Mom says she'll be right behind us, to get loaded up in the car."

"Here, sis." Nathan pulled a set of car keys out of his pocket. "You remember how to drive on the right side of the road, right? You and Dave follow us in my old car. If it gets damaged, I won't cry as much."

"Ha, ha, Nate. Yes, I remember." She rolled her eyes as she walked down the porch steps with Dave. He slipped his hand around hers and intertwined their fingers as they walked down the path to the cars. "You boys want to ride with us?"

Kyle giggled as he joked, "Um, no Aunt Lexi, we'd like to make it to the church uninjured."

"Oh, you're going to see injury—just wait till we get back home and I take you down at Monopoly."

"Dave, I'm sure we can fit you in the car, if you'd prefer safety over your girlfriend," Jeremy added with a laugh and a high five from his younger brother.

Dave smirked, but saw the eyebrow raise that Alex shot his way. "Boys, I think I have a lesser chance of survival if I take you up on your offer. Your aunt might kill me, and I'd hate to have traveled all this way for such a short trip."

Alex rolled her eyes but smiled as she and Dave got into her brothers old red car just as Danielle was headed down the path to the white SUV her husband and sons were getting into.

* * *

The next day, the little old red car flew down the interstate. "So, tell me more about where we're going?" Dave looked out the window at the interstate as trees, advertising billboards, and road signs flew by.

"The mountains of Western North Carolina. I might describe the difference between it and eastern part we were in, to driving from London to the Scottish Highlands. I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, it's one of the reasons I loved Scotland so much. Though as beautiful as our mountains are here, they don't compare to Scotland at all. I don't want to paint the wrong picture and you be disappointed," she tried to explain, but was having a difficult time doing so.

"I'm sure it's beautiful," Dave smiled as he saw her happiness in heading back to her hometown.

"Oh, it is. I'll never forget the first time I drove back into the mountains after being away at college in the flatlands in the eastern part of the state. I actually cried it, was so beautiful see. We used to go camping, hiking, mountain biking—when I was a teenager." She continued smiling as she described her homeland. "I've stood on top of a few of the mountains we'll see on our way in."

"The weather here is beautiful." Dave said as he rolled the window down on his side of the car.

Alex laughed and did the same. "Yes, it is. I will say I miss the weather over here, as opposed to the cold rainy days we have most of the time." She held her arm out the window, allowing the wind to blow through her fingers. "I used to ride with my windows down all the time on road trips. Windows down and music up."

Dave turned the knob on the radio to turn it on, and then raised the volume. He turned and smiled at her and they laughed together, enjoying the music, the company, and the wind in their hair.

* * *

A few of her father's old friends and their extended family from their hometown came to the graveside. After a few words were said, Nathan, Alex, and the family spoke to a few of them, and Dave was introduced to some of them individually. Afterwards, Alex put a flower on her mother's grave and stood quietly for a moment. She took a deep breath and turned to her right, staring across the graveyard to another section. "They're over there."

"Who?"

"John, Laney, Blake— they're over the hill, in the building over there."

"Oh." Dave had no idea this was where the remains of her husband and children were as well. "Weren't you living in Virginia at the time?"

"Yes. But it happened so suddenly, and we hadn't planned on where we'd be buried. Cremation was the best option, because of—" She took a deep breath. "Anyway—they're there…"

"I'll go with you. If you're ready." He held his hand out and she slowly took it, beginning their walk to the place she most feared and most longed for.

Nathan watched and knew where his sister was going. He leaned over and whispered to Danielle, who nodded. They waved the boys over and began following, about twenty or thirty feet behind, moving slowly as not to intrude.

When they came upon the white stone building, Dave stopped. "I'll wait here for a few minutes and give you some time? Then I'll come join you, okay?" She nodded and let go of his hand, walking into the building's open doorway. A moment later, Nathan and his family stepped up next to him.

"She's lucky to have found you, Dave. You're a good man." Nathan nodded towards the open doorway.

"It's the other way around, I'm lucky to have found her." Dave's face reflected the deep love in his heart for the woman who was currently facing her biggest fears. "Your sister—she's incredible." They stood in silence a moment before Dave turned his head towards Nathan. "If you'll pardon me a moment." Dave stepped into the building and found rows of walls lined with marble squares. Behind each, he presumed, were ash remains.

He found Alex with one hand resting over one of the marble squares that was just at her height, with a small bronze plaque engraved, "John Blake Stanton." The other hand rested between two more, labeled with her children's names, "Elaina Marie Stanton," and "Blake James Stanton." She leaned with her weight against them, head bowed down. He came up and quietly stood next to her a moment. After a few more minutes, Nathan, Danielle, and the boys came and stood with them, Nathan placing his arm around his sister. They all heard Alex take a deep breath after a few more minutes, and she turned to walk away.

Dave stepped back, allowing her and her family to walk ahead. He stepped forward again, looking up at the plaque. He raised his hand and touched it briefly, allowing one brief thought to be directed that way. _I promise, I'll take care of her now._ With that, his hand dropped and walked away to join Alex on her journey.


	14. Chapter 14: Yes

Dave and Alex spent the next day in Western North Carolina with her brother, Nathan, and his family. They made arrangements to extend the gravesite care agreement they had with the local funeral home for their mother's grave to their father's as well, then Alex took Dave to a few of her favorite spots. The one that he enjoyed the most was a beautiful drive up one of the local mountains to a gorgeous waterfall. The next day, Thursday, they drove back to Nathan's home.

Dave could tell that Alex was feeling down and a bit agitated that day but he wasn't sure if it was from dealing with her father's loss, or the time in her hometown. That evening, they sat on the back deck, he with a beer and her with a glass of wine, watching Nathan and the boys play basketball on the small court they had built into their backyard. Dave was holding Alex's hand, and began stroking his thumb along hers to catch her attention. "Tell me what you're thinking about right now."

She sighed as she continued to watch the game. "I only have you one more day, then you're leaving."

He squeezed her hand. "You only have me _here_ one more day. Then I'm heading home, and I'll be there waiting. You'll be joining me there soon enough."

She shook her head. "No, not soon enough."

He pulled her hand up and placed a kiss on her knuckles. "I'll miss you too."

"Nathan and I are going to make a plan tomorrow for finalizing details of Dad's estate. Then I'll know when to set my return flight for. I'll feel better when the ticket is in my hand."

* * *

Later that night, Alex helped Danielle clean up the kitchen while Dave sat on the back porch with Nathan drinking another beer.

* * *

The next afternoon, his last in America—for now—Dave snuck up to his guest room for a few minutes before the family had a late lunch. When he came back down everyone was just sitting down at the table. As he sat down next to Alex, the phone in his pocket began to ring. "Excuse me a moment," he said to those around the table, then pulled it out and started the video call. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Dad!" came several voices at once.

"Hold on, let me turn the camera around on this thing." He tapped a button and his children could now see those around the table. "There's Alex—"

"Hi Alex!" the same voices yelled.

She smiled. "Hiya kiddos!"

"And you remember talking before on here with Nathan and Danielle and their boys, Jeremy and Kyle." He held the camera with one hand and began fumbling in his pocket. "If this all goes well, I'm hoping they'll get to come visit us in about six months or so."

Alex's look of confusion went between Dave and Nathan, as Dave handed the phone to Nathan. "You don't mind holding that do you, Nate?" Nathan took the phone with a grin and Dave pulled his chair away from the table, taking a small box from his pocket and cleared his throat as he knelt down next to Alex. Her eyes grew wide and her hand went over her mouth as he took a deep breath. "I wasn't sure what the right time, or place, would be for this. But I thought here, with your family, in your home country, might be right. Alexandra Stanton, I love you more than words can ever begin to explain, but here goes—you came into my life and gave me a second chance at love when I didn't think I needed or wanted it. But once I knew you, I knew I couldn't ever live without you in my life. We've been brought together on this planet, two people who have known and lost love, I believe, to bring love and happiness to each other once again—and I hope—for the rest of our lives. So here I am, with my kids in tow—" He nodded back towards the phone. "—who by the way threatened me if I didn't get this done soon. Alexandra Stanton, will you marry me?"

Alex practically fell out of the seat getting to Dave. She fell to her knees, arms wrapped around his neck, and crushed her lips against his in a kiss. The cheers from the phone were echoed by the ones around the table. When she broke the kiss, he grinned. "Is that a yes?"

She grinned back and nodded fervently, whispering, "Yes, yes, yes," before kissing him again, then moving her head beside his, crushing him in a tighter embrace, her eyes squeezed closed as tears rolled down her cheeks.

He whispered into her ear, "You haven't even see the ring yet…"

She chuckled and sat back up in her chair, wiping her eyes. He lifted the ring up for her to see. There were small purple jewels surrounding a slightly larger, but modest, diamond in the center. "It's beautiful," she whispered as she gasped.

"There are 9 jewels in all, 3 light purple ones on top are for John, Lainey, and Blake—always a part of your heart—" He paused a moment for it to sink in before continuing, "the others are for Evie, Ewan, Paul, Lucy, Tanya, Sam—and well I was hoping the diamond might represent us—our love." He grinned, and she let him slip the ring onto her left hand. It fit perfectly.

"That's amazing!" Danielle exclaimed from across the table.

"Alex, Alex!" They heard coming from the phone and Nathan smiled, hoping no one would notice his red, tear rimmed eyes, as he handed it over to her and she reversed the camera so they could see her. "Alex, we love you!"

"Oh, kiddos! I love you too! Every one of you!" She wiped at her tears again and smiled. "I'll see you very soon, I promise. Your Dad will be back to you tomorrow!"

"Bye Alex!" They all waved, and Tanya ended the call from their end, and in Scotland, at the Tiler house, a celebratory dance party was happening, with even Anna and Robin taking part.

Dave got up from where he still knelt on the floor and pulled his chair over to sit.

"Okay, who all was in on this?" Alex said as she looked around the table and slowly four American hands went up in the air. She shook her head in disbelief before they all began laughing together. "How long have you known?"

"I found out last night, when Dave politely asked me for permission." Her big brother then smirked, "Seems I held your fate in my hands, sis. Lucky you I was feeling generous."

They all began laughing again, and as Dave rested one arm on the back of Alex's chair, he added through his own laughter, "To be clear, if you had protested, I probably would have just waited till she made it back to Scotland and asked her anyway."

"It never would have gotten that far," Danielle smiled. "I would have never let him say no. In my defense, I just found out a while ago when Nathan finally told me what was going on."

"And us, too!" Jeremy defended he and his brother.

Nathan smiled and raised his glass of ice water. "Not exactly proper drink for a toast but it will have to do. To Alex and Dave, may you have all the love and happiness you both so greatly deserve."

"Cheers." Danielle added as their glasses clinked together in the center of the table.

Kyle grinned and raised his glass in the air. "And to vacation in Scotland! Do we get to wear kilts to the wedding?"

Dave couldn't help the loud laugh that escaped again before he answered, "That will have to be discussed later, but I'll see what I can do, boys." He winked towards the two boys and they both grinned.


	15. Chapter 15: Home Again

"Dad! Why won't you let us come to the airport with you?" Ewan whined.

Dave grabbed his keys off the side table by the door and stepped into the living room where the kids were sitting on the couch. "Because, her flight could be delayed and I'm not keeping you kids entertained in Glasgow Airport!

"Her flight is on time! We checked online!" Paul argued.

Lucy added her own input as she brought in a bowl of popcorn. "Dad just wants to be able to snog her senseless without us watching. Let him go."

Dave ignored her statement—and the possible truth of it, moving towards the door. "I told you all, I'm bringing her here as soon as I pick her up so she can see you. Behave. Goodbye!"

* * *

Alex pulled her luggage off the baggage reclaim center and checked out through customs. As she came around the corner into the public area, she saw Dave leaned against a wall, reading a magazine. She weaved in and out of the crowd coming out of the international gate, hoping to sneak up on him. She got within a few feet of him before he caught sight of her purple rolling suitcase and looked up to see her, a look of utter delight coming across his face.

"Excuse me, sir. I'm looking for my fiancé. You haven't seen him, have you? He's a tall, dark haired, incredibly handsome, Scottish bloke." She grinned and stepped closer.

She got just close enough that he reached out and grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her into his embrace. His hands slipped between her backpack and her back as he pulled her flush against him and whispered in her ear, "I thought you might never get here. I've missed you so much." He then left her breathless with a kiss. After a bit he did finally let her breathe again, moving one hand to take her left hand which rested at the center of his chest, lifting it to look at the ring on her finger with a smile. He raised her hand to his lips and kissed the knuckle below the ring. " _My fiancée."_ Dave saw a slight frown creep across Alex's face. "What's wrong? What is it?"

"It's just—" Alex bit at the corner of her lip a moment and then sighed and looked down at his chest, her fingers fiddling with the weave of the sweater he wore. "You really do want to marry me?"

"What kind of question is that, Lex?" He leaned down to try and look into her face. "I asked, didn't I? Where is this coming from?"

"It was a long flight. I had _a lot_ of time to think, and well, I was thinking about you and Rita—you two were never married—and I just thought—,"she blurted out quickly, then paused, unsure how to continue.

"You just thought—" Dave lifted her chin with his hand, looking into her eyes. " _Alex,_ Rita and I were—well, we were Rita and I, we had our reasons for the way our relationship was the way it was. And, you and I, we're—we're _us_. No two relationships are the same, right? That was then, this is _now_. Remember, we agreed: we don't forget our past, but we don't live in it. And that includes making comparisons to our former relationships. I asked you to marry me because I _want_ to be your husband, okay?" She nodded and he ended the discussion of the topic by giving her a quick, and this time gentler, kiss. "Now, there are several children at my house who about to burst with excitement to see you again. Shall we go?"

"Yes, please. I would be happy to not see another airport for quite some time. And I can't wait to see the kids."

* * *

"Alex!" Five young children yelled in unison as the door opened and Alex came through. Tanya smiled from the living room door as her own son joined the stampede into the entryway, bodies smashing into a group hug around the woman who had entered.

"Hello, hello!" Alex smiled as she squeezed all the bodies around her. After they broke up, she stepped over and gave Tanya a hug as well.

"We missed you!" Evie said with a huge grin on her face as she clung to Alex.

"I missed you too!" Alex smiled back at the young girl.

* * *

Dave sat on the end of the couch, separated from his fiancée by his own children. Lucy sat between he and Alex, with Evie sitting on her other side. Sam was curled up in her lap, Ewan and Paul sat on the floor on either side of her legs. Tanya sat on the other side of Evie. Since he had brought her to the house, the children had barely allowed her to be out of their reach.

It shouldn't surprise him that they would react this way to having her back—they had encouraged him to go buy the ring, to go and take it to her in America. Knowing that his children truly loved her too was all it took to push him out of his indecision as to if he should propose. And after he got back, they had daily asked him when she would be returning, until a date had been set for her return flight.

He quietly got up as everyone else watched a movie on the TV. He went into the entryway and pulled his camera out of his backpack, slipping back into the room and getting as good an angle as he could of the group crowded on and around the couch. The click of the shutter caught their attention and the shot went from candid to posed, with everyone smiling.

He came back over to the couch, camera in hand, and motioned Lucy over. She scooted to the end of the couch, and finally he was able to sit next to Alex again, putting his arm around her shoulders, she leaned into him and rested her head against his chest. Sam got up and moved to his own mom, Tanya adjusting her position to hold him. Dave showed Alex the preview on the screen of his digital camera and she hummed, pleased with the picture.

It was barely two minutes later, as the movie ended, that he realized she had fallen asleep. He had planned to get her home earlier, but she had given in when the kids begged her to sit and watch a movie with them. Now he hated to wake her when he knew she was exhausted—her travels and the past three weeks catching up with her.

Tanya looked over and smiled, whispering, "I'll get the kids to bed, stay there." Tanya and Sam had already planned to stay over that evening; she in Lucy's room, and Sam with the boys.

He smiled as she quietly wrangled the children, guiding them upstairs, and mouthed, "Thank you," to her as she handed him a quilt from off the back of the couch. He watched her slip upstairs behind the last of the kids and looked back down at Alex. Now, did he move her, or stay?

* * *

Tanya saw the lights still on downstairs and came quietly back down, hearing no sound, after getting the kids to their rooms. She found her father still in the same place on the couch, but now passed out asleep himself, with his feet propped up on the coffee table and the quilt laid over he and Alex. She smiled and took care of turning off the lights before heading back upstairs to Lucy's room for the night.


	16. Chapter 16 - Limits

Dave woke up early the next morning and found that they had shifted sometime in the night and he was half-laying on the sofa, his legs still hanging off the front, but head down on a pillow at one end. Alex was curled up into his side, her back against the back of the sofa, head and left hand resting on his chest. He was fairly certain his back would be hurting when he finally got up from the half-bent position he was in, but for now, he refused to move, not wanting to risk waking Alex before she did so naturally. As if on cue, he felt Alex's body suddenly stiffen for a moment, as she awoke to find herself in an unexpected place. Then she slowly looked up to see him smiling down on her. "Good morning," he said quietly.

"Good morning," she whispered and smiled back. " _You_ were going to take me home after the movie last night."

"Ah, yes, but _you_ fell asleep before the film was over. I was _not_ going to wake you after the last three weeks you've had. And you had me pinned, though this—" He motioned to their half laying position. "—happened sometime in the night." He looked down at her a bit concerned. "Sleeping on my sofa isn't off limits, right?" he responded cautiously.

* * *

About a month prior, after one of their weekly date nights, they were in the throws of a passionate kiss just inside the door of her apartment, and things were heating up very fast. She had quickly put on the brakes, and a serious discussion ensued. She was scared about their relationship becoming physical too fast. It was a combination of things: She had been raised with some pretty strict beliefs that she still had hanging in the back of her mind, and had been in several prior relationships, both before her marriage, and one afterwards,that had gotten more physical than she had really wanted. In her experiences, it made things get complicated very fast, and she was enjoying the slow and steady road with Dave. She knew it wasn't the same experience held by everyone, but even Dave had agreed to a point. It was that night he had told her the whole story about his relationship with Sarah, including how it ended.

The relationship, in his own words, had been born out of grief. He was deep in despair and wanted to simply feel something, anything, other than the sadness that seemed to have taken root in everything he did. Out of that need, that desire, came the passionate relationship between he and Sarah. He explained about the pregnancy that had come as a surprise to him, but not to her, as she had hoped and planned for it without telling him. He went on to tell about how he had welcomed her back and she had come to live with them, but then, after just a month of what seemed like happiness, she lost the baby in a miscarriage. He tried to be there for her, to love and console her through it, had promised her they could try again. But apparently it had woken Sarah from the dream she was living in and things changed overnight. She started lashing out at him, and then the children. He tried for months to make things work, thinking it was just grief causing her to act the way she had. But it soon became evident that she hadn't really loved him, but only the idea of what it might be like to have the family she had always envied Rita for. She walked out of their lives one day and never returned.

* * *

Alex smiled bashfully. "Of course, it isn't 'off-limits,'" she quietly said. "Are you sure you're okay with—you know—with waiting for more?" Her gazed dropped back down to where her hand rested on his chest.

"Oh no you don't," he said as he used his unpinned hand to tilt her chin back up to face him. "No getting insecure on me again. You were clear about your limits and I agreed to them. We agreed to the 'slow and steady road.' Besides—," he paused to run his finger around the ring on her hand. "—soon enough 'slow and steady,' can transition to 'hot and heavy.'" He grinned and winked at her and she blushed and buried her head into his chest again.

"You are so evil." she giggled into his chest.

He laughed back, but tried to stay quiet so as not to wake anyone else in the house. " _I'm evil!_ You're the one that has me pinned down on the sofa, cuddling up to me."

"Oops, sorry—" She started to sit up, but he held her tight.

He shook his head. "I didn't say it was a bad thing."

She hummed and rested her head back on his chest. "Hmm, neither did I." After a few quiet minutes, she sighed. "What time is it?"

"It's barely light outside, still early yet. Do you want me to take you home?"

* * *

That afternoon Alex arrived back at the Tiler home for a 'proper welcome home dinner,' as Anna had called it. Dinner wasn't for another few hours, but she had arranged with Tanya to get there early so she could look at some of her nature photography.

Dave had once told Alex about the rough time he and Tanya had when Rita died. He doubted her desire to work in the business, but she had begun showing more effort and desire. Both to be a part of the business and in photography. She worked as his assistant, he helped her grow as a photographer, and together they learned that she enjoyed nature photography and had quite the knack for it.

After an hour, they were sitting on the sofa, photographs strewn all over the coffee table, when Dave stuck his head in. "I've just realized I need to go to the shops to pick up a few things. I'll be back in a tick."

Both the ladies nodded and a few moments later they heard the door closing as he left. Alex turned back to the photos in front of her. "Tanya, you really do have a gift for this. I'm serious, you should have these on display in a gallery, at the very least selling them online."

"Really, you think so?" Tanya smiled, lavishing in the praise of her future step-mother.

Alex nodded and smiled. "I _know_ so. I could—help with that, if you like?"

"You would do that?" Tanya was now beaming with excitement.

Her excitement was reflected by Alex. "I'd love to!"

The two embraced in a hug that ended when the doorbell rang. Tanya's face went into confusion. "Wonder who that could be? Anna and Robin aren't due here for another hour. I'll get it."

The young woman was up and headed to the door, while Alex turned back to flip through the photographs, pulling out a few she thought were especially good. She heard the door open, but then Tanya said nothing, which caught her attention. Then she heard a female voice. "Hello, Tanya, it's good to see you again."

Alex didn't recognize the voice, but something about it drew her up out of her seat and to the door. As she came to stand next to Tanya, she spoke. "Tanya, who's here?" She stopped cold as she saw Tanya's expression, then looked at the woman standing on the other side of the door. She had never met the woman, but she had seen pictures of her. It took her only a moment to steel herself and let a calm expression wash over her face. "Hello, Sarah."


	17. Chapter 17: An Unexpected Visitor

Before Sarah could respond, Tanya asked bitterly, "What are you doing here?"

Sarah looked between Alex and Tanya, unsure of her next step. "I came to see your dad."

"He's not here right now, and you're not welcome here—" Tanya spit out.

Alex knew that Tanya had never gotten over the double hurt she had experienced in her father's relationship with Sarah. The first had occurred thanks to the revelation that the relationship existed, and the second in how Sarah had treated the family before leaving. Alex had her own strong feelings, but they were perhaps a bit more detached since she had not been present to experience it herself. Alex rubbed her hand on Tanya's back and smiled at the young woman. "Tanya, why don't you let me handle this."

Tanya drew her eyes away from Sarah and they softened as she looked questioningly at Alex. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Just—keep the kids inside for a bit till I come back in." Alex nodded in the direction of the upstairs and Tanya nodded and slowly turned to walk away from the door. Alex watched her head upstairs, then stepped outside and shut the door behind her, turning her attention back to the woman in front of her.

"I'm sorry, you know who I am, but _who_ are you _?_ " Sarah asked in a judgmental tone that didn't escape Alex's notice.

"My name is Alexandra Stanton," she said matter-of-factly, then paused while decided how to continue. "After walking away _two_ years ago I'm not sure the tone of your question is appropriate, Sarah. Why _are_ you here?"

Sarah gulped, obviously growing more unsure as the conversation continued. "As I said, I came to see Dave—to talk."

"To talk, or to mess about with his emotions again? I know the whole story, Sarah. You'll find that Dave is in a much better place now and has a much better understanding of his own feelings. You won't be able to manipulate him this time." Alex crossed her arms over her chest to punctuate the statement. She hadn't realized it, but her left hand was on top and the presence of her engagement ring was evident immediately to Sarah.

Sarah gasped. "You're his—"

"Fiancée, yes. And you're the Rita's ex-best friend, Dave's ex-girlfriend, who jumped him while he grieved, got yourself pregnant by him without including him in the decision, and then treated he and his children like trash to be dumped when you didn't get the ideal life you had wanted."

"That's not—" Sarah argued.

Alex sighed and interrupted her. "Sarah, I am not an unkind person. I'd like to think that perhaps you were just grieving and hurting too. That in confusion you made a bad decision. But I've heard how you treated them, _and_ how you left them. I _love_ them and I will not see you cause him or his children any more hurt and pain than you already have. They have healed, and there is no healthy reason for them to see you again. I suggest you leave now, before Dave gets back and things get even more awkward."

* * *

"She what!?" Dave Tiler shouted as he dropped the shopping bags onto the kitchen counter.

"Ssshh, Dad. The others don't know, I kept them upstairs." Tanya paused and glanced at Alex, who wasn't thrilled that Tanya had decided to share what had occurred earlier. "She just showed up at the door. Alex dealt with her."

Dave glanced between Tanya and Alex a moment, the shock still evident on his face, and his chest heaved up and down as his heart raced. His gaze landed on Alex, but his words were to Tanya. "Tanya, please leave us alone for a bit."

Tanya looked at Alex, then nodded and slipped out of the room and went out back to check on the rest of the kids while they played. Dave leaned back against the countertop, his hands gripping the edges tight, his face turned down and he stared at the floor in front of him. Alex stepped closer, standing a few feet away, but waited for him to make the next move. He whispered, "Tell me what happened."

Alex took one more step forward but seeing that he was making no move to welcome her closer, she stopped and spoke from where she stood, slipping her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "She said she was here to see you. I reminded her that she manipulated, hurt, and left you and the kids. I told her that you had healed and there was no reason for her to see you. I made it clear to her that she was no longer welcome here."

Dave's mouth turned up at one corner, and he took a slow deep breath in and back out. "What did you tell her, about you? About us?"

"I told her my name. She saw the ring and realized who I was to you. I confirmed it."

"Good," he said as he reached out his hands and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her towards him. He wrapped his arms all the way around her waist, burying his head into her hair at her neck. "Good," he repeated, not moving from his position.

She moved to wrap her arms around his neck, one hand going up to run her fingers through his hair. He didn't move for several minutes, but finally pulled back just enough to look down into her eyes, still holding her close. She saw his tear-rimmed eyes and ran her thumbs over his cheeks. "Are you going to be okay?"

He let a slow smile spread across his face. "Oh, I'm going to be brilliant with you around. I love you."

She smiled back. "I love you too." Then her face grew a bit more serious. "wasn't sure if we should tell you that she was here."

"No, no, I'm glad to know. A bit more closure, I think. I always worried if she was going to show back up. Now the door isn't only closed, it's locked and sealed." He smiled as he looked into her eyes. "And you, my darling, it sounds like you were brilliant. Thank you for protecting the kids from that." He leaned in as he tilted his head, pulling her into a kiss.

When they pulled away from each other, she grinned. "On that note—can we talk about wedding plans for a moment?"

"Of course," he responded with a smile. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, a date, most importantly. And—how big did you want to go?" she questioned.

His face quirked up a bit. "Honestly?"

"Of course." She nodded.

"As soon as possible, and as small as possible." He gave her a questioning look, hoping he hadn't aimed too far from her own desires.

She smiled wide. "I agree."

"Really?" He smiled back.

"Yes! I _do_ want my brother and family here. Otherwise, just them, all the kids, Anna and Robin. Just family—" she said.

"That sounds—perfect." He smiled. "How soon?"

"What about—Christmas holiday? I'd have to check with Nathan and Danielle, but the kids would be out of school, and—is that too soon? It's only a month and a half away. We could push it later if that's—"

"I think it's perfect." He kissed her again.

She pulled away from him, smiling as she did. "I'm going to call my brother before it gets too late!"


	18. Chapter 18: The Finale

On the day of the ceremony, the Stanton/Tiler wedding party had converged on 23 Montrose Street.

"Are you certain you're okay with this? A civil ceremony at the city chambers? You're really okay with this?" Dave looked down at his soon-to-be-wife as he held her hands at his chest. They were together in the side room, waiting for the registrar to come in and speak to them before escorting them into the ceremony room where their families waited.

"Of course, I'm okay with this! Have I given you any indication to think otherwise?"

"Well, no—" Dave sighed. "But I just worry—you know, it's not the big dream wedding most women would want."

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Dave, am I 'most women?'"

A big beaming grin spread across Dave's face. "Most certainly not!"

"Alright then. Now listen—this is about me and you, spending the rest of our lives together, not about some big fancy ceremony that costs a load of money. I've been through all that, and even then it wasn't really what I wanted. As long as I'm here with you, and our family, I'm the happiest woman alive." Alex smiled up at him and gently squeezed his hands.

* * *

Ten minutes later the doors into the main ceremony room opened and the registrar walked through, with Dave and Alex following. Dave wore a traditional dress kilt and Alex an a-line sleeveless tea-length satin white wedding dress.

As they came into their places, Robin stood at Dave's side, wearing a regular suit—as was Nathan, who stood to Robin's right. Five boys, all in kilts and lined up according to age stood to next to the men: Alex's nephews, Dave's own sons and grandson, were chatting quietly as they waited. Danielle, Anna, Tanya, Lucie, and Evie, all stood to Alex's left.

As they all settled into place, the registrar stepped forward and the ceremony began.

* * *

After the ceremony, the families all went back to the Tiler home for a celebration. Food had been prepared ahead. The sun came out so they moved into the back garden for music and dancing with Tanya serving as DJ with her phone attached wirelessly to a speaker.

The party went for a couple hours before Dave and Alex said their goodbyes and drove away on their mini-honeymoon to the Highlands.

* * *

Three days later, Dave and Alex returned to find another party waiting for them at their home. Nathan, Danielle, and their boys had been staying at Alex's flat, which would now go on the market to be sold. In the three days it appeared that they, Robin, Anna, Tanya, and the kids, had been busy. She had already boxed up all her things before the wedding, but they had all been moved to the house, most being pushed into corners till they got around to unpacking. A few had been opened and some of her photos were now mixed in with the Tiler's.

At one point during the celebration, Dave came into the living room with two glasses of wine. "There you are. Were you hiding?"

"Just looking at these photographs and thinking," she said as she motioned to the mantelpiece. He handed her a glass and she kissed his cheek. "Thanks."

"Look at that," he whispered. He saw what she had been looking at: a line of family pictures. There was a family picture of he and Rita with his children to the left, to the right was a picture of her with John, Laney, and Blake. In the middle was a recent picture they had taken of she and Dave with Paul, Ewan, Evie, Lucy, Tanya, and Sam. "Do you like it?"

"I do." She nodded. "They're a part of who we are. If it wasn't for them, we'd never be here, together."

"'Tis true." He nodded and switched his glass to the opposite hand so he could wrap his arm around her waist and pull her into a deep kiss. "Now, come on. Our family awaits. Your brother says he found 'Trivial Pursuit' in one of your boxes and that, and I quote, 'the beating is about to begin.'"

They walked back towards the kitchen and dining area, finding the whole family crowded around the table as Nathan set up a game board. The adults were seated, with kids huddled around, some having pulled up additional chairs. Two seats at the table were empty and awaiting the newlywed couple. Alex stopped at the doorway for a moment and looked on at her newly grown family. She couldn't help but smile as she thought back over the past few years of her life that had led her here. Several years ago she never would have expected to find herself this happy, and with a family of her own again.

She was caught out of her reverie as Evie came running up and tugged on her sweater sleeve. "C'mon Alex! Uncle Nathan says he's going to kick your butt, but I know he's wrong! You're the smartest person I know!"

Alex smiled and glanced at her husband as she was pulled towards the table, pulling him along with her, towards their family.

* * *

A week later, a new sign was being hung outside Dave Tiler's studio.

 **STANTON & TILER  
**Photography ~ Branding ~ Web ~ Design  
 _Alexandra Stanton-Tiler & Dave Tiler_

"Why did you put my name first? I told you that you should have yours first. It's your studio." Alex looked up lovingly, but with a bit of exasperation, at her husband who moved away from the building and came up to wrap his arms around her from behind so they could examine it together.

He leaned over a bit, putting his face down next to hers, cheek-to-cheek. "But that's the point, isn't it? It isn't _my_ studio anymore, it's _ours_. And I'm happy about it. And that being said, there's no reason for your name _not_ to be first. Besides, I also told _you_ that you didn't have to take my last name on, but you insisted on that hyphenation business. I insist on this," he said as he waved out towards the sign.

"You're sure, really? You don't mind sharing space with me?" she asked cautiously. Inside, she was beyond thrilled, both at the idea of combining forces with her husband, the magnificent man _and_ photographer that he was—and at the idea of finally having office space outside the home.

All Alex's boxes of business things had been brought over to the studio while they were honeymooning, and now the move was official. A corner had been cleaned up and prepared for her, her desk moved in, and a small conference table put in for them to have meetings with clients.

"I love it!" he said with a grin, then he shrugged. "Besides, it makes good business sense. We don't have much room in the house for you to set up, we don't need to take on another rental payment when we have this place with enough room for your things. And on a purely personal level, it means I get to spend more time with my _wife._ "

"More time _working_ with your wife?" Alex grinned playfully.

"Eh, yeah—working—that too." He grinned and waggled his eyebrows at her.

She rolled her eyes playfully and batted at his shoulder as she quickly moved away, going towards the door to the studio. "Yes well, I am going to go get some _work_ done, husband."

"Mmhmm, yes— _work_ —" He cleared his throat. "I'll be right in to do that, too." He kept grinning, picked up the tools he had used and followed her in. Yes, working with his wife was going to be lots of fun.

* * *

Well, I think this is it for Common Bonds. It's been a fun journey. This was my first posted fan fiction story, and it's a bit bittersweet putting an end on it, but I feel that there are new stories, new characters, and new adventures awaiting me. Dave and Alex have finally found happiness, and perhaps they'll come back out to play later. 😊


End file.
